TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that he hasn’t “received anything” from a grand jury investigating the movement of millions of dollars through the state’s Hope Florida charity to a political campaign fighting recreational marijuana, and said first lady Casey DeSantis hasn’t been called to testify.
“Why would she have?” Gov. DeSantis said at an event at Palm Beach State College with the first lady. “She wasn’t involved in anything that they were alleging.”
The grand jury’s investigation has since October centered on $10 million that was diverted in 2024 from a state Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation — a state-created charity spearheaded by the first lady. Most of the money ended up in a political committee controlled by Attorney General James Uthmeier, at the time the governor’s chief of staff and the pointman on DeSantis’ campaign to defeat recreational marijuana at the ballot box.
Casey DeSantis has never been accused of wrongdoing, but reporters have had few opportunities to ask her about Hope Florida, as she largely disappeared from the public eye after the controversy erupted last spring. In the weeks prior, the governor and first lady had promoted Hope Florida as a revolutionary program to wean Floridians off public subsidies and steer them toward faith-based charity.
The grand jury’s deliberations have been secret. State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office in Leon County said Tuesday that the investigation was ongoing.
There are different possible outcomes to the grand jury deliberations. The jury could choose to not criminally indict and leave its work secret. It could criminally indict individuals and recommend prosecution to the state attorney, in which case a trial could take place. Or, the jury could choose to not indict but move forward with a presentment.
In that scenario, a person implicated of wrongdoing — but not a crime — would receive a report 15 days before it is released to the public. During that time, the individual would be able to file a court motion to “repress or expunge the report or that portion which is improper or unlawful,” according to state law. That motion would delay the publication of the presentment until a judge rules on the appeal.
On Wednesday, when asked whether he’d received a presentment of the grand jury’s findings, Uthmeier said, “I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say publicly or not on that.”
Gov. DeSantis repeatedly distanced the first lady from the Hope Florida Foundation on Thursday, even though ceremonial checks cut from the charity’s fund have included her signature and news releases repeatedly credit her for awarding the money.
“People would try to say that somehow she has a charity — she does not have a charity,” the governor said. “They wanted people to say that there was a donation made to her charity. Never, not one dime, she wasn’t involved in any of that. It’s a sanctioned charity for the state of Florida, our Department of Children and Families.”
But DeSantis did continue to credit his wife with launching the related Hope Florida program — their legacy initiative they branded as the conservative answer to welfare. The charity was created in state law to financially support the program.
“When she launched Hope Florida years ago, it had nothing do with a charity,” Gov. DeSantis said. “Now, the foundation, you know, that’s to supplement that mission, but that’s like 1% of what Hope Florida has done.”
While the state case in Leon County remains active, the governor, attorney general and their aides promoted a report Wednesday in The Floridian, a conservative publication, citing an anonymous source saying that the Department of Justice had decided to not open up a case. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
After not facing reporters for months, the first lady has held two policy-packed news conferences in recent days, including one last Friday in Tallahassee. The first lady did not respond to a reporter’s question about whether she was considering a run for governor, a possibility she’d flirted with before reporters and lawmakers began digging into Hope Florida’s programming and finances.
In recent weeks, Casey DeSantis has been promoting a new initiative she is now leading called Healthy Florida First, which has been releasing reports about potential toxins in food. Thursday’s event was about a new study on bread. She’s also been appearing on Fox News in recent weeks, after spending months out of the limelight.
“I’m kind of along for the ride on it,” Gov. DeSantis said on Thursday before introducing his wife.
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.
