TALLAHASSEE --- Democrats on Thursday called for more investigations and resignations of top state officials after a leaked state grand jury report found Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration “misappropriated” Medicaid money in 2024 that ended up in political committees.
But since the grand jury also didn’t find enough probable cause to pursue criminal charges against anyone, DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Tampa, responded to the grand jury findings as a “misrepresentation” of facts, a “hoax” and an effort to “smear people.”
“As we’ve said from the beginning, this has been a politically motivated witch hunt driven by the Democrats and a far-left Democrat state attorney in Tallahassee,” Uthmeier said during an event in The Villages.
The report, though, shows it was “allegations of fraud and abuse” made by Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who led the House probe in the matter in 2025, that led to the grand jury proceedings.
On Wednesday, CBS Miami obtained and published the Leon County grand jury report that found $10 million from a total $67 million settlement in 2024 between Florida and Centene Corp., a vendor for the state’s Medicaid program, was sent to the Hope Florida Foundation, the charity arm of an initiative helmed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. The money was then split equally between two nonprofit groups --- Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society From Drugs.
Days later $8.5 million was given from the two groups to Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee staffed by Uthmeier, who was DeSantis’ chief of staff at the time.
Then Keep Florida Clean sent $9 million to the Republican Party of Florida and another $1.23 million to the Florida Freedom Fund, another political committee chaired by Uthmeier.
The committee was dedicated to opposing two measures on the November 2024 ballot. One would’ve installed a right to an abortion in the state constitution, the other would’ve legalized recreational marijuana. Both measures failed to get the 60 percent support required to pass.
David Jolly, a former Republican U.S. representative who is now the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said if elected he’d support renewing the investigation.
“It’s a highly orchestrated scheme to launder Medicaid money from childrens’ health services into the First Lady’s charity, to be passed through to political committees for the governor. It is clear it’s a violation of the law,” Jolly said in an online call with reporters on Thursday.
The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus issued a statement Thursday calling for the resignations of Uthmeier and Moody. The Democrats pointed to the grand jury report finding Uthmeier “was in a position of authority over those involved in settling with Centene” and Moody, then Florida’s Attorney General, authorized her deputy to sign the settlement agreement.
“The grand jury report in the Hope Florida case is truly damning. $10 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,” all 12 state Senate Democrats said in a joint statement.
In a statement posted on X, Moody disputed the characterizations of the attorney general’s office.
She noted the settlement was negotiated by the Agency for Health Care Administration, the state department in charge of the Medicaid program; that her office was “one of multiple agencies that signed the final agreement;” and that her office “had no knowledge of how funds would be spent” by the Hope Florida Foundation.
“Attempts to characterize this any other way are disingenuous,” Moody stated.
Uthmeier during his stop in The Villages responded when the report was brought up that “nobody did anything wrong here” and “there was not even probable cause to move forward.”
“This is a hoax, and all it did was show that the Democrats can’t win on policy and they can’t win on the law,” Uthmeier said.
Uthmeier added that he couldn’t comment further as grand jury proceedings are confidential.
DeSantis, during an event in Lake City on Thursday, said “the only crime that was apparent was with whoever leaked the grand jury report.”
“The settlement that AHCA did was legally sound,” DeSantis added. “It was appropriate, and it advanced the interests of the state.”
DeSantis appointed Moody, twice elected Florida’s attorney general, to the U.S. Senate in January 2025 after Marco Rubio was appointed U.S. Secretary of State. Uthmeier was appointed as Moody’s replacement by DeSantis in February 2025.
Both Uthmeier and Moody are up for election in November.
