Former President Donald Trump’s post-election screed labeling Florida Governor “Ron DeSanctimonious” has not gone unnoticed by Andrew Gillum or his Miami lawyers.
Trump, in a statement Thursday after the election and ahead of his planned announcement of a third White House bid, credited himself with winning Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2018 gubernatorial race, when he narrowly beat Gillum.
In addition to saying he helped “fix” DeSantis’ campaign after it “completely crumbled,” Trump said he also got the feds involved “when votes were being stolen” in the Broward County.
Chronicle of the Corruption Affair
David Markus and Katherine Miller, who represent Gillum in federal public corruption charges involving donations to his gubernatorial campaign, did not respond to insults Trump hurled at the former mayor of Tallahassee.
Instead, they cited Trump’s statement in a motion filed Friday in federal court, saying it further supports their request for a hearing on whether the feds selectively prosecuted Gillum because of his race. His lawyers requested the hearing on the Election Day motions which also sought dismissals on all counts.
“Former President Trump’s messages raise serious questions about exactly how Trump ‘fixed’ the DeSantis campaign and what Trump ordered the FBI and US Attorney’s office to do, and whether there is a connection with the FBI investigation and subsequent prosecution of Gillum,” Gillum said. wrote the lawyers.
In his statement, Trump alluded to the fraud without offering any evidence.
“I was everything to Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the race, when votes were stolen by the corrupt electoral process in Broward County, and Ron was losing ten thousand votes a day, with the current senator Rick Scott, I dispatched the FBI and U.S. prosecutors, and the theft of ballots ended immediately, just before they ran out of votes needed to win,” Trump wrote.
On Friday, Broward County election officials released a statement calling Trump’s claims false.
“The Broward County Office of Elections Supervisor has no documentation of federal law enforcement presence in the 2018 election,” said Ivan Castro, spokesman for the Broward County Elections Supervisor. “Also, to clarify, there is no evidence of corruption during the 2018 election cycle in Broward County.”
Trump backfires on DeSantis:
Gillum’s attorneys, however, said Trump’s statement supports a “prima facie case for selective prosecution (at least for political purposes) because Donald Trump confirms that he took action through the FBI and of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Gillum and his longtime adviser, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, were indicted in June for unlawfully soliciting and pocketing campaign donations. Both were charged with conspiracy and wire fraud, with Gillum also being charged with lying to the government.
Trump called Gillum a drug addict in his statement, although he used harsher language. Gillum, who in 2020 was found in a Miami Beach hotel with a man suffering from an overdose and suspected packets of meth, denied using meth but later went to rehab for alcohol abuse .
Contributor: Zac Anderson, USA Today Network-Florida political reporter.
Contact Jeff Burlew at [email protected] or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.
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