{"id":382176,"date":"2026-08-27T02:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382176\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T02:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T02:06:07","slug":"gov-desantis-office-slams-alleged-leak-of-hope-florida-grand-jury-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382176\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. DeSantis’ office slams alleged leak of Hope Florida grand jury report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis\u2019\u00a0office sharply criticized what it described as the unauthorized release of a grand jury investigation report tied to the\u00a0Hope Florida scandal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At the same time, Senate Democrats argued that the revelations highlight the need for changes to state law to curb corruption.<\/p>\n

Within hours of\u00a0CBS News Miami<\/a> reporting on what it said were details from a sealed grand jury report, spokespeople for DeSantis condemned the disclosure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis baseless smear has been debunked over and over again,\u201d posted Alex Lanfranconi, communications director for DeSantis\u2019 office. \u201cIn fact, if any confidential grand jury report was leaked to the press, that\u2019s the only crime committed here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, grand jury reports are made public once investigations conclude, unless someone named in the report objects to its release.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the report, the grand jury determined that $10 million from a Medicaid settlement was diverted to campaigns opposing two Florida ballot measures, and labeled the funds as \u2018misappropriated.\u2019 However, the report did not recommend criminal charges, noting that no individual would take responsibility for directing the taxpayer money to Hope Florida.<\/p>\n

The findings have led critics of both DeSantis and Attorney General\u00a0James Uthmeier \u2014 who served as the Governor\u2019s Chief of Staff during the period in question\u2014to call for reforms to state law. Senate Democratic Caucus leader Tracie Davis said she intends to file legislation to close any gaps that could limit accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an egregious abuse of power from our executive branch, and the fact that nobody has been held accountable is a disgrace,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe report asked the Legislature to make sure that our laws are strong enough to prevent corruption and ensure transparency of public funds. To that end, I plan to file legislation in the upcoming Legislative Session to prevent this type of outrageous abuse from ever happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis, who is term-limited, is not running for another term. Uthmeier, whom DeSantis appointed as Attorney General\u00a0last year<\/a>, is seeking a full term in November. The investigation into the Hope Florida scandal has fueled ongoing tensions between the executive branch and the Florida House throughout the past two Legislative Sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis\u2019\u00a0office sharply criticized what it described as the unauthorized release of a grand jury investigation report tied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,153351,1384,4455,4260,64198,13120,412],"class_list":["post-382176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-grandy-jury","tag-hope-florida","tag-hope-florida-foundation","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-leak","tag-medicaid","tag-ron-desantis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}