Casey DeSantis calls criticism of Hope Florida charity 'slanderous' and 'false'

Lawrence Mower and Alexandra Glorioso, Tampa Bay Times on May 14, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis and the first lady lashed out at critics of their Hope Florida program on Wednesday and defended the state’s decision to steer money from a Medicaid settlement to a related charity.

During a roundtable in Brandon, Casey DeSantis vowed to continue Hope Florida despite intense scrutiny from news outlets and Republican lawmakers.

“It’s just really disheartening and very sad, but not surprising, to see these slanderous, false accusations hurled at Hope Florida,” first lady Casey DeSantis said. She didn’t detail which comments she was referring to.

“We are not going to be dissuaded by the critics who have been captivated by willful ignorance,” she added.

The defiant message comes after weeks of intense news coverage and a Republican House committee investigation into Hope Florida and its nonprofit charity arm, the Hope Florida Foundation.

The program — the brainchild of Casey DeSantis — is intended to move Floridians away from needing government services by connecting them with support from local churches and nonprofits.

But when Ron DeSantis asked the Republican-controlled Legislature this year to pass a bill making Hope Florida permanent in state law, it sparked scrutiny into the nearly four-year-old program.

The state has not provided detailed information about the program’s performance, such as the types of aid people have received or where they’re located.

Elizabeth Phillips, a former Department of Juvenile Justice ombudsman who is also a Hope navigator assisting Floridians, said during the roundtable that not everything Hope Florida does can be quantified in a weekly report.

“Some of the most meaningful work we do happens in those moments that can’t be measured,” Phillips said.

Ron DeSantis has said the program has helped 30,000 people get off or reduce their reliance on government assistance, but the state has been citing that statistic for nearly a year. Three years ago, the state said the number was 25,000.

A House analysis found that the nonprofit Hope Florida Foundation, which was set up as a “direct support organization” to the Hope Florida program, had not been filing its tax returns or performing audits required under state law. Its board was also holding its meetings in secret, in violation of the state’s open meeting laws, and maintained no budget or bylaws.

A state representative leading a Hope Florida inquiry last month accused the DeSantis administration of steering $10 million from a settlement with a Medicaid contractor through the Hope Florida Foundation and to political committees.

Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, said DeSantis’ then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier, told two organizations to request $5 million grants from Hope Florida Foundation. The two groups then sent at least $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by Uthmeier that was fighting last year’s ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.

Four former federal prosecutors told the Times/Herald that, based on the information that has emerged so far about the $10 million, there is ample evidence for the Department of Justice to launch an investigation.

Andrade said he’s met with federal investigators about the settlement money.

DeSantis on Wednesday continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with the state’s decision.

The “settlement that they did was appropriate, legally sound and advanced the core policies of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

“All this stuff that gets put out there, so much of it is intentionally fraudulent and contrived,” he added.

Andrade on Wednesday scoffed at the idea that the money was advancing the state’s mission.

“DeSantis treats Floridians like they’re gullible or stupid,” he said in a text message Wednesday. “Sending $10,000,000 to James Uthmeier’s PAC furthered no other mission than his own political aspirations.”

Casey DeSantis has been rumored to be running to succeed her term-limited husband, and Hope Florida would be one of her signature achievements.

On Wednesday, she declined to say whether she was running but indicated she may be waiting to make a decision.

“I get why this is a big conversation, but I will also say it’s more than a year away from qualifying,” she said.

Ron DeSantis has said he plans to be actively involved in backing the 2026 candidate he wants as his successor. He has used his platform to promote the first lady’s work and floated the idea of her running.

Whoever the governor “ultimately decides” should succeed him “should be somebody … in the mold of a DeSantis who’s willing to get out there and fight,” Casey DeSantis said.

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(Times staff writer Kirby Wilson contributed to this report.)

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