The New York Times spent months telling you Ron DeSantis stole $10 million from sick children.
Now a Florida appeals court just ordered every word of that grand jury report shredded.
And Ron DeSantis made one confession about the Hope Florida “scandal” that is bad news for Democrats.
The Appellate Court Didn't Tap the Brakes – It Burned the Report Down
The Florida First District Court of Appeal didn't trim the grand jury report.
They didn't redact it.
And they didn't send it back for another look.
Judge Lance Neff ordered the entire document expunged – stricken from public records entirely – and explained exactly why in 19 pages that dismantled the Democrat narrative brick by brick.
The legal finding that matters: the $10 million Centene paid to the Hope Florida Foundation was never public money.
Never.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2108201732924981472?s=20
Centene paid it directly to the foundation before any civil lawsuit was filed.
Because no civil action was pending, Florida law governing how state settlement money must be handled didn't apply.
The grand jury got the law wrong.
And here's the detail Democrats don't want you to see: Florida attorneys general executed 107 similar third-party settlement agreements between 1996 and 2020.
One hundred and seven.
This practice has been standard in Florida for decades – under Democrat and Republican governors alike.
The grand jury called it a crime.
The appeals court called it routine.
State Attorney Jack Campbell Sent That Report to 49 People Before DeSantis Could Challenge It
Under Florida law, anyone named in a grand jury presentment gets 15 days to challenge it before release.
State Attorney Jack Campbell's office blew past that protection.
His office mass-emailed the sealed report to at least 49 recipients on January 28 and 29 – while it was still legally confidential, before the challenge window expired.
Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed law enforcement is already examining the leak.
If that investigation crosses circuit lines – which Uthmeier said is entirely possible – the statewide prosecutor gets involved.
"Somebody broke the law, they should be prosecuted," Uthmeier said.
DeSantis was even more direct.
"Throughout this whole ordeal, the court is very clear: there's been one crime committed, and it's the people that leaked the report illegally," he said.
Casey DeSantis Was Smeared With a Report That Should Never Have Existed
The New York Times and ABC News both reported that Casey DeSantis founded or controlled the foundation that received the settlement money.
Neither is true.
Casey DeSantis created the Hope Florida initiative – a program connecting welfare recipients with churches, local businesses, and nonprofits to achieve financial independence.
She has never sat on the foundation's board.
She has never held an officer position.
She was not involved in the Centene settlement.
And she received zero dollars from any of it.
The Hope Florida program she inspired has helped approximately 40,000 Florida residents reduce or eliminate their dependence on government assistance.
That's the woman Democrats spent months trying to destroy with a report a court just ruled should never have been made public.
DeSantis called out CBS directly at the press conference – asking whether they had a reporter in the room and challenging them to correct the record.
CBS didn't send anyone.
The Whole Operation Started With a Republican Trying to Kneecap Casey DeSantis
The Hope Florida investigation didn't start with Democrats.
https://twitter.com/CryptidPolitics/status/2108288662144430461?s=20
Pensacola Republican Alex Andrade – using his seat on the House Health Care Budget Committee – funneled information to State Attorney Jack Campbell, the same prosecutor whose office mass-emailed a sealed report to 49 people before anyone named in it could mount a legal challenge.
Andrade's move came during a period when House Republicans were at war with DeSantis, and when speculation was heating up that Casey DeSantis might run for governor.
DeSantis called it what it was.
"There was a cabal in the Legislature. There was an attempt to weaponize this using the legal system," he said.
A partisan hit job dressed up as oversight – with a state attorney who violated Florida's grand jury secrecy statutes to make sure the narrative landed before anyone could stop it.
The narrative didn't survive contact with actual law.
And now the people who broke the seal are the ones who need lawyers.
Sources:
- Florida First District Court of Appeal, Opinion by Judge Lance E. Neff, October 8, 2026.
- Michelle Vecerina, "DeSantis proclaims 'total victory' for Hope Florida after appeals court orders full expungement," New York Post, October 8, 2026.
- James Uthmeier, Florida Attorney General, press conference statement, October 8, 2026.
- Fox 49 Staff, "DeSantis calls for prosecution of grand jury report leaker in Hope Florida case," Fox 49 News, October 8, 2026.
