TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office spent the weekend urging anti-abortion groups to protest the Republican lawmaker who accused him of crimes in the Hope Florida saga last year, according to multiple people and messages circulating in the faith community.

In an apparent bout of political payback, a spokesperson for Uthmeier reached out to faith groups falsely alleging that Rep. Alex Andrade was proposing cutting funding for the chain of anti-abortion clinics known as the Florida Pregnancy Care Network. Uthmeier’s spokesperson asked groups to protest and carry signs in the House budget committee Andrade oversees on Monday.

“Tomorrow at 4pm, Rep. Andrade’s subcommittee is scheduled to meet for the LAST time, with almost three weeks left in Session,” states the message by Uthmeier spokesperson Jae Williams. “There is more than enough time to tackle big issues, and fund the (Florida Pregnancy Care Network).”

The spokesperson added: “For anyone who is willing and able to attend the meeting tomorrow, the Attorney General would love to host them in his office at 3:30pm for a time of prayer before the meeting. Please have them RSVP to me directly.”

The message also highlighted how Planned Parenthood is a client of the Pensacola law firm where Andrade works, a claim that Uthmeier and his spokespeople have been repeating for weeks on X. Andrade says he is “pro-life,” believes that “life begins at conception,” and that he has voted for every bill reflecting those beliefs in his eight years serving in the House. He isn’t a partner at his firm, and is not working on the Planned Parenthood case.

Williams suggested activists carry signs such as “Stop working for Planned Parenthood, Andrade.”

The requests set off a furor among anti-abortion activists, including the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, whose director, Rita Gagliano, emailed colleagues Sunday night assuring them that she had no indication their funding was in jeopardy. She blamed politics for the confusion.

“Please know that we have it on very good authority that the funding is safe, and we have been specifically asked to convey that assurance to all of you,” Gagliano wrote. “Sadly, it appears we may have been caught in the undertow of some political crosscurrents.”

The Florida Pregnancy Care Network declined to comment to the Herald/Times.

Andrade said in a text message to the Herald/Times Monday that the office’s campaign was “without a doubt” retribution for his committee’s investigation into Hope Florida last year. Andrade accused Uthmeier of money laundering and wire fraud for his involvement in the diversion of nearly $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement to a political committee he controlled in 2024. Uthmeier was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time.

A criminal grand jury in Tallahassee opened an investigation but hasn’t released its findings. Uthmeier has denied wrongdoing.

“He has no moral compass,” Andrade said in a text.

When the Herald/Times reached out to Uthmeier’s office Sunday evening, Uthmeier’s deputy chief of staff, Jeremy Redfern, initially denied that the office’s spokesperson was asking groups to protest Andrade’s committee.

“Would be news to Jae or anyone else in our office,” Redfern responded in an email.

Once the issue began being discussed on the social media platform X, Redfern walked his statement back.

“While the AG is on the road and not at the Capitol tomorrow afternoon, we’ve heard from multiple pro-life groups over the past couple weeks who have expressed disgust over Alan Andrade’s law firm taking in blood money from Planned Parenthood,” Redfern stated, according to a social media post he sent the Herald/Times.

For weeks, Uthmeier has been erroneously referring to Andrade as “Alan” Andrade.

Redfern added: “If members of the AG’s staff are standing strong for life in their free time, we wholeheartedly support it.”

Asked if he was confirming that Williams or other employees of Uthmeier’s office called the anti-abortion groups and encouraged them to protest Andrade, Redfern did not respond.

The DeSantis administration tried to strip the Florida Pregnancy of funding last year, after it refused officials’ request to run ads against 2024’s Amendment 4, the ballot initiative that would have overturned Florida’s six-week abortion ban. The network’s board, fearing that political ads would jeopardize its nonprofit status, chose to run more neutral television spots focused on its anti-abortion services and its hotline.

Andrade told the Herald/Times that he was contacted by more than one organization that feared he had cut funding to the Florida Pregnancy Care Network. Andrade said groups tipped him off to the protest after realizing that “Jae had lied to them about the funding in my budget.”

“I’ve since been in contact with two other groups who had also decided not to participate (in the protest) after confirming the AG’s office was lying to them,” Andrade said.

Andrew Shirvell, the founder of the anti-abortion group, Florida Voice for the Unborn, posted Williams’ message on X.

Shirvell told the Herald/Times he had not been contacted by Williams directly, but said that several people had sent him Williams’ message.

Shirvell said he thinks Uthmeier’s office is trying to “distract” from the confirmation hearing of Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris, which is happening at the same time as Andrade’s committee on Monday.

Shirvell wrote a letter last week to two senators who will vote on Harris’ confirmation Monday, detailing how he believes Harris’ agency isn’t enforcing its six-week abortion ban. Shirvell has for years been seeking a full abortion ban in Florida, “like they had done in Texas.”

“This whole episode from Andrade’s committee is a big distraction from the real issue,” Shirvell said.

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(Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reporter Garrett Shanley contributed to this report.)

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