ORLANDO, Fla. – The Republican Party of Florida has sued News 6 and multiple Orlando and Tampa Bay television stations over a political ad about the Hope Florida controversy, arguing broadcasting the “gist” of an erased grand jury report is a crime.
Because there are so many claims airing on television and in your social media feeds ahead of this year’s midterm elections, News 6 wants you to know what can happen behind the scenes with some of these ads.
[RELATED: How the Hope Florida investigation began]
The lawsuit, filed late Friday, Oct. 16, also names the Florida Democratic Party and three Democratic statewide candidates. It comes with as mail ballots are already out and early voting is underway, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
The suit targets a 30-second ad paid for by the Florida Democratic Party and approved by David Jolly for governor, José Javier Rodríguez for attorney general and Annette Taddeo for chief financial officer. The ad cites a leaked grand jury report on Hope Florida. Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is on the Nov. 3 ballot, is the candidate the ad targets, according to the complaint. According to the news service of Florida, a group of people named in the grand jury report petitioned the 1st District Court of Appeal to stop the publication of the report, but the request was denied on Friday.
The party’s argument rests on the initial ruling by Florida’s First District Court of Appeal, which ordered the grand jury report expunged. Once that happened, the Republican Party of Florida argues that anyone who knowingly broadcasts the report’s “content, gist, or import” violates Florida law. According to a Tampa Bay Times report, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Suzy Lopez has been warning TV stations they could be committing crimes by running the ads.
[RELATED: Bombshell Hope Florida decision drops as DeSantis declares victory]
However, under these same rules Attorney General James Uthmeier has already publicly answered questions on FOX News about the grand jury report. Also, the report has been viewed widely across the internet, television, and print media.
THE HOPE FLORIDA BACKGROUND
In 2024, the state settled with Medicaid contractor Centene. Ten million dollars of that settlement went to the Hope Florida Foundation. A Republican-led Florida House investigation in 2025 traced that money to political committees that fought the 2024 marijuana ballot measure.
Hope Florida Foundation leaders were found to have given $5 million each to a pair of organizations: “Secure Florida’s Future” and “Save Our Society From Drugs.” Those two groups then sent roughly that same amount of money to a political action committee called “Keep Florida Clean,” which fought against Amendment 3. (WKMG-TV 2026)
A Leon County grand jury later found the money had been misappropriated but brought no charges. The report was sealed until CBS News Miami published it in August. WKMG News 6 is an affiliate of the CBS Network.
[RELATED: Grand jury report finds taxpayer dollars were ‘misappropriated’ to Hope Florida]
The appeals court eventually since sided with the administration. that the money was never public, criticized the report’s legal reasoning, and ordered it erased. It’s also important to note that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Uthmeier have said repeatedly no one did anything wrong.
That being said, on Aug. 27, the day after the report became public, News 6 reporter Mark Lehman asked Uthmeier about it at a news conference in The Villages. Uthmeier told Lehman to pull out his phone, then read him Florida’s criminal solicitation statute.
“Are you trying to solicit a crime here in violation of the law?” Uthmeier asked.
[RELATED: Florida Attorney General chides News 6 journalist over Hope Florida question]
In the same answer, Uthmeier said he was not allowed under Florida law to comment on the report, then said that if it were true, it showed “a couple of things” and went on to describe them.
The next morning, Uthmeier appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” He spoke about the grand jury report, saying, “This is another politicized weaponized attack by a far-left democrat state attorney in Tallahassee wanting to smear and attack the DeSantis’.”
Fast-forward to the latest filing over an ad bringing up this report: there are certainly other legal issues to consider. Federal law bars broadcasters from censoring ads by candidates for office, and the party’s own complaint acknowledges that shield applies to libel claims. The grand jury report itself has been publicly available online since August. The appeals court opinion, which the party attached to its lawsuit, describes the report’s grand jury findings at length and is posted on the court’s website, where you at home can read about it.
You can read the full report provided by CBS News below:
The campaign ad was purchased to run on News 6 for just five days, until the end of the day Tuesday. News 6 will continue to follow this case.
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