Florida Democrats call for Uthmeier, Moody resignations

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus is calling for the resignations of Attorney General James Uthmeier and Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla. after a grand jury found $10 million in taxpayer funds was misappropriated.

Uthmeier dismissed the report Thursday calling it a “politically motivated witch hunt.”

“Ten million in Medicaid settlement money — money that the grand jury found was ‘compensation for ripping off sick poor children’ — was knowingly and willingly misappropriated in a sophisticated scheme that the grand jury found was motivated by partisan political purposes,” said the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus in a statement. “The beneficiaries of that scheme were then-Chief of Staff James Uthmeier and his political action committees — committees that were acting to advance the political will of Governor Ron DeSantis. The supposed public servants involved were clearly preoccupied with their own political agenda instead of the people of Florida, and in what seems to be a reward for their misdeeds, two of them were appointed to higher office. This behavior is outrageous, immoral, and in our view, criminal.”

DeSantis responded to the grand jury report during an appearance Thursday.

"The only crime that was apparent was whoever leaked the grand jury report,” said the governor. He went on to say: “There was no diversion of any Medicaid funds. That was a private settlement where a company made a private contribution to a DSO affiliated with one of the state agencies.”

The accusation that the DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million in Medicaid funds has been brewing for over a year.

Earlier this year Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said the money was funneled through Hope Florida, an organization run by First Lady Casey DeSantis, and then into a political committee controlled by Uthmeier.

It’s not just Democrats highlighting the misappropriation. Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, has been vocal about his criticism of DeSantis and Uthmeier since he ran an investigation into the matter as chair of the Health Care Budget Subcommittee.

In one of several social media posts, Andrade said: “As a reminder, @AGJamesUthmeier Attorney stole $10,000,000 in Medicaid funds in 2024.”

Uthmeier called the accusations a “hoax that has been debunked time, and time, and time again.”

“I’m not allowed under Florida law to comment on the reports, I can't say if it's true or not but if it is indeed true it shows a couple things. First it shows that there was no probable cause found that anybody did anything wrong. And also if this report is true it shows that the Democrats had to collude with the press to break the law and release a document that's not allowed to be released under the law.”

DeSantis said people blew up the story because they were trying to smear his wife because of her connection with Hope Florida.

“None of these guys did anything wrong but she wasn't involved in any of this,” the governor said.

Moody said Thursday that reports have “misrepresented the facts” surrounding the settlement agreement with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which is at the center of the controversy.

“The AHCA negotiated agreement made clear how settlement money would be dispersed, to include funds going to Hope Florida,” Moody said. “As is standard practice, and would be expected, the AG’s Office was one of multiple agencies that signed the final agreement for execution and release of claims. The AG’s office had no knowledge of how funds would be spent or played any role in how Hope Florida, AHCA, or the legislature would spend the settlement money. Attempts to characterize this any other way are disingenuous.”