The charity arm of Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis’ passion project Hope Florida continues to face scrutiny from lawmakers in the Florida House.
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Republican lawmakers pushed for more answers Tuesday to piece together the money trail that started with a state Medicaid settlement ended with millions of dollars making it into a political committee tied to the Governor.
According to the Hope Florida Foundation Chair Josh Hay, the Foundation had only raised $2 million prior to the $10 million donation it received as part of the state settlement.
Almost immediately, Hay unilaterally approved two $5 million grants to a pair of anti-drug non-profits with no restrictions or oversight to guarantee how the money was spent.
“How many $5 million grants has the Hope Florida Foundation issued?” House Budget Subcommittee Chair Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) asked Hay.
“Two,” Hay replied.
“Have they issued any larger grants than $5 million?” Andrade asked.
“Have not,” Hay responded.
Soon after, the groups contributed a combined $8.5 million to the Keep Florida Clean PAC, which was established to fight the effort to legalize recreational marijuana last year and led by Governor Ron DeSantis’ then-Chief of Staff James Uthmeier.
Uthmeier now serves as Florida’s Attorney General after being appointed to the position by the Governor earlier this year.
Hay told the subcommittee that “mistakes were made” and that the Foundation is working to file its delinquent tax returns.
The Foundation Board will be meeting Thursday to adopt new rules and procedures to address deficiencies within the charity.
But when Hay mentioned the name of the new attorney now helping the Foundation in that effort, it caught the subcommittee chair’s attention.
“The attorney for Keep Florida Clean to help Hope Florida’s Foundation in complying with the paperwork to retroactively justify this payment? Is that what I’m hearing right now? Members, I’m sorry, I am a little flabbergasted at this revelation,” said Andrade.
In Pensacola, Governor Ron DeSantis continued to defend the Foundation Tuesday morning.
He argued the Foundation, which was established to help Floridians get off of government assistance programs, has an interest in reducing drug abuse.
DeSantis alleged the inquiry is simply meant to tarnish the reputation of Florida’s First Lady.
“If you’re looking at like 2026 and you’ve got, you know, some horse, you don’t wanna hear anywhere near that. You’re very worried because she’d run circles around their people. Everybody knows that,” said DeSantis.
Andrade called on Uthmeier to return the money his PAC received to the state.
“James Uthmeier knew what he was doing. He misused Medicaid money. He directed it to his own PAC. That money ended up at RPOF, paying for campaign ads against Amendment Three,” said Andrade.
Andrade also suggested the investigation may need to go beyond his subcommittee and could warrant a federal investigation.
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