Bipartisan fallout over Hope Florida scandal after grand jury findings | Facing South Florida

In this week’s edition of Facing South Florida: CBS News Miami's Jim Defede expands on his exclusive reporting on the contents of the sealed grand jury investigation into the Hope Florida scandal. The report shows the DeSantis administration “misappropriated” $10 million in taxpayer funds and sent them to the Hope Florida Foundation, before then being re-routed to a PAC (political action committee) under the control of the Governor’s then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. It was then diverted to the bank account of the Republican Party of Florida and used to fund the political campaign against the amendment to legalize marijuana in Florida. The grand jury also found Sen. Ashley Moody, who was then the state’s attorney general, and her office failed to do their due diligence to protect taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, the report reveals the grand jury decided it couldn’t bring criminal charges against anyone because no one would take responsibility for making the decision to reroute the $10 million, which was originally from a Medicaid settlement that was intended to help needy children across the state. The reaction to the blockbuster revelations detailed in the report was bipartisan in its condemnation. Republican Senator Rick Scott called the findings “deeply concerning,” and said, “Florida families deserve accountability, not more finger pointing in Tallahassee.” Jose Javier Rodriguez, who is running against Uthmeier for Attorney General in November, said this about Uthmeier. “He's a criminal who should resign. He should come clean and turn himself in. This may well be the most brazen act of political corruption we have seen here in Florida.” Angie Nixon, who is running to unseat Moody for the senate, weighed in as well. “So this is the ultimate betrayal of working families. Think about this,” Nixon says. “Ashley Moody stole $10 million from children in Florida. Everyone involved in this, Ashley Moody included, should resign. They should resign, enough is enough.” Governor DeSantis and Uthmeier both said there was no wrongdoing at all and instead focused on how the report was made public after months of its release being blocked. Uthmeier called it “a hoax” and even threatened to levy criminal charges against reporters who asked him about the grand jury’s findings. “Are you trying to solicit a crime here in violation of the law? I did not think so. I did NOT think so!” he says. Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, argues that when $10 of taxpayer is improperly spent, the public has a right to know what happened. “In Florida, we have a constitutional right of access to information about our governor, excuse me, about our government,” Petersen says in a new interview on this week’s episode of Facing. “We have a constitutional right of access to records. We have constitutional right to access to meetings. And since day one, DeSantis and his administration have shown nothing but disrespect and disregard for the public's right to know what he and his Administration are doing. And this is just to me, you know, a prime example. Of their total disregard for the public, and the public's right to know.” Also on Sunday, Jim talks with Congressman Jared Moskowitz following his lopsided victory in the democratic primary for District 25. GUESTS: Rep. Jared Moskowitz/(D) Nominee for Congressional District 25 Barbara Petersen/Exec. Director, FL Center for Government Accountability Facing South Florida airs Sunday at 8:30am on CBS Miami. #florida #government #accountability #politics #republican #democrats