The Florida House abruptly ended its probe into the DeSantis’ administration last week. The investigation in which many House Republicans had taken part was looking into whether or not Governor Ron DeSantis had illegally used $10 Million dollars in taxpayer money on political ad campaigns targeting the failed 2024 Florida Amendment 3, which would have legalized cannabis for possession, purchase, and recreational use in Florida.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Hope Florida foundation, which is linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis, reportedly received $10 million in Medicaid dollars owed to taxpayers as part of a $67 million settlement between the state of Florida and Centene, the state’s largest Medicaid contractor. The foundation then steered the $10 million dollars to two “dark money” groups that later funneled it to an anti-marijuana political committee controlled by DeSantis’ then-chief of staff that successfully campaigned to defeat Florida’s marijuana legalization ballot initiative last November. “We have this almost 3-to-1 supermajority of Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives, and it is rotten; they are behaving more like Democrats. They are colluding with the left. They are colluding with the media to try to sabotage all of the great success that Florida has had over these last six years,” said DeSantis in a press release.
The probe ended on April 24th with Republican Alex Andrade, the Florida House representative originally leading the probe, announcing that the House’s investigation into James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ ex-chief of staff, and Jeff Aaron, Hope Florida’s lead attorney, would be halted. “We are not judges or prosecutors. While I am firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions,” stated Andrade.
