Democrats spent months screaming that Ron DeSantis was a criminal.
Now a judge just buried their smoking gun under 90 percent worth of redactions.
And what that judge found buried inside that report is something Democrats desperately hoped you'd never see.
The Grand Jury That Spent a Year and Charged Nobody
A Democrat state attorney in Tallahassee spent the better part of a year building a grand jury case against the Hope Florida Foundation – the anti-poverty initiative championed by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Jack Campbell, the Democrat prosecutor overseeing the case, convened a grand jury last October.
Witnesses were subpoenaed.
Documents were collected.
The media salivated.
Then the grand jury wrapped up its work – and brought zero criminal charges.
Not one.
The jury concluded no witness would accept responsibility for directing the settlement money to Hope Florida.
https://twitter.com/JeremyRedfernFL/status/2093021894102446526?s=20
No indictment. No perp walk.
Nothing.
So Democrats did what Democrats do when the legal system fails them.
They leaked the sealed report anyway.
CBS Miami published the unredacted document Wednesday, setting off the predictable media firestorm.
DeSantis is corrupt. Casey DeSantis is dirty.
The whole administration is a criminal enterprise.
There was one problem.
The judge assigned to oversee the report looked at what Democrats leaked – and redacted more than 90 percent of it as legally improper.
Ninety percent.
Florida Law Is Clear – and Democrats Broke It
This is not complicated.
Florida Statute 905.28 is explicit: when a grand jury names individuals but brings no charges, that report is confidential and sealed by law.
The people named cannot defend themselves against accusations from a proceeding that produced no indictment – so the law protects them by default.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2092999690170073196?s=20
A source close to DeSantis told Florida's Voice that additional redactions were still possible, meaning the judge may not be finished stripping away the Democrat state attorney's political hit piece.
DeSantis put it plainly at a Thursday press conference.
The settlement money came from "a private settlement where a company made a private contribution to a DSO affiliated with one of the state agencies."
He called the handling "legally sound" and "appropriate."
Attorney General Uthmeier was equally direct: "This has been a politically motivated witch hunt driven by the Democrats and a far-left Democrat state attorney in Tallahassee. This hoax has been debunked time and time and time again."
The Real Crime Democrats Committed
Democrats had a sealed grand jury report.
The law said it stays sealed.
They leaked it to friendly media anyway, betting the headlines would do the damage that the charges never could.
That's not whistleblowing.
That's a crime.
DeSantis identified the real offense immediately: "The only crime that was apparent was whoever leaked the grand jury report."
He's right.
The same Democrats howling about DeSantis violating the law just violated the law – and did it deliberately, with a media partner lined up and ready to publish.
https://twitter.com/JeremyRedfernFL/status/2093351083070427378?s=20
The grand jury itself – the one Democrats convened to destroy DeSantis – found no probable cause to charge anyone.
The $10 million came from a private settlement with Centene, a Medicaid contractor that overbilled Florida.
DeSantis directed that money to Hope Florida, which connects Floridians in need with churches, businesses, and charities rather than expanding government dependency.
By DeSantis' own accounting, the program has saved Florida taxpayers roughly $150 million.
Democrats tried to turn a legal settlement and a legitimate anti-poverty program into a criminal conspiracy.
The judge just told them what they actually produced: a report so legally defective it couldn't survive 10 percent intact.
Sources:
- Anita Padilla, "Judge redacted over 90% of leaked Hope Florida grand jury report as legally improper, source says," Florida's Voice, August 28, 2026.
- Anita Padilla, "DeSantis, Uthmeier denounce leaked Hope Florida report as political smear," Florida's Voice, August 27, 2026.
- Jim DeFede, "REPORT: Taxpayer dollars 'misappropriated' to Hope Florida, grand jury finds," CBS Miami / ClickOrlando, August 26, 2026.
- "Prosecutors convening grand jury in Hope Florida investigation," AOL / Associated Press, October 2025.
