DeSantis says there is 'no basis' for investigating Hope Florida charity

Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times on May 21, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday there was “no basis” for local prosecutors to open an investigation related to the state’s Hope Florida Foundation and called the Republican lawmaker who provided documents to the state attorney’s office a “jackass.”

In his most substantive remarks since the Times/Herald broke the news Tuesday that Leon County prosecutors had an open criminal investigation into the state-run charity overseen by his administration, DeSantis said he was more committed to Hope Florida than ever.

He lashed out in particular at Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican who led a House committee probe into Hope Florida and its charity arm, the Hope Florida Foundation. The program and the charity were envisioned by first lady Casey DeSantis to move Floridians off state welfare by connecting them to churches and nonprofits that can offer them help.

Last month, Andrade turned over records to the Department of Justice and the 2nd Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office, a decision DeSantis said was “political.”

“He took documents and he dropped them in a prosecutor’s office,” DeSantis said. “That is not an organic investigation, that’s a manufactured political operation.”

“There is no basis to do an investigation on these facts,” he added. “Everybody knows it.”

Andrade didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Over the last two months, Andrade and news reporters have been digging into the DeSantis administration’s decision to steer $10 million from a settlement with a Medicaid contractor to the Hope Florida Foundation.

The foundation, within days, gave it away to two nonprofits, which then sent at least $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. The committee was created to defeat last year’s ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana.

State Attorney Jack Campbell— whose office serves six counties including Leon, where Tallahassee is — told the Times/Herald last month that lawmakers were free to give his office evidence of a crime, noting that some of them were “great lawyers” and former prosecutors.

“I’m confident if they feel they have evidence of a crime, they know how to find me,” Campbell said at the time. “That’s kind of where I am.”

When the Times requested any records that prosecutors received from Andrade, Campbell’s office said Tuesday it was “part of an open, on-going investigation.”

Campbell, a Democrat, has declined to comment on the investigation, and it’s not known who is leading it.

Andrade has accused Uthmeier, who is now Florida’s attorney general, and a lawyer working for the foundation of committing “conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud” and misusing $10 million in Medicaid dollars by spending it on political advertising.

Four former federal prosecutors interviewed by the Times/Herald said Andrade could be on strong legal ground. They identified eight potential federal crimes that could have been violated, including theft of government funds and money laundering.

DeSantis has denied that the money was Medicaid-related damages and said the investigation is a political operation intended to damage the first lady, who is rumored to be considering running to replace her term-limited husband.

“You have one jackass in the Legislature — I’m sorry, it’s true — who’s trying to smear her,” DeSantis said.

“I’m more committed to Hope Florida than I’ve ever been,” he added.

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(Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau reporter Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report.)

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