By Mike Huckabee
June 23, 2022
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Ron DeSantis has been such a success as governor of Florida, it’s easy to forget that Democrat Andrew Gillum came within 38,000 votes statewide of winning that office. We should all thank our lucky stars, whether we live in Florida or not, that DeSantis made it and got the opportunity to show the nation how conservative principles translate into practical solutions. That's especially true now, when Gillum is once more in the news, this time for his indictment on numerous corruption charges.
We don’t want bury the lede, so let us just say: Gillum’s attorney is Hillary-connected former Perkins Coie lawyer Marc Elias. More on that later.
Recall that after losing in that election, Gillum –- once a rising star in the Democrat Party –- was caught in a drug-fueled sex orgy with a male escort who almost died from a drug overdose. Yes, Florida, this was almost your governor. Missed it by THAT MUCH.
Project Veritas captured video of one of Gillum’s employees saying he was very far-left, had to lie to win, and was “crazy, crazy, crazy.” Gillum himself remarked that Ron DeSantis supported slavery. He called DeSantis and Trump “pigs.” Lovely person. From 2018:
This guy was actually the mayor of Tallahassee, which might seem hard to believe until you hear that Tallahassee has the highest crime rate in the state. As reported by INDEPENDENT SENTINEL, anyone who brought this up was called (of course) a racist.
And, yes, Democrat “superlawyer” Marc Elias is defending Gillum against his 21-count indictment for conspiracy, fraud and making false statements. (What, Michael Avenatti wasn’t available?) He'll have his work cut out for him, as the indictment is reportedly accompanied by copious bank records and informant testimony.
As the WASHINGTON FREE BEACON reports, Elias is “a strange choice” for Gillum’s legal team. “Unless being friends with the Clintons counts, Elias has little apparent experience with federal criminal defense,” they say. As you know, in recent years his efforts have been concentrated mostly on election law at the state level, getting judges to eliminate safeguards that would have helped ensure the integrity of mail-in ballots. In the summer of 2020, he and his team of attorneys criss-crossed the country to use the legal system to pressure targeted “battleground” states to change the rules –- even if it meant going around state legislatures. These changes were ruthlessly exploited that November.
I would think it would be highly unusual to be friends with the Clintons without having at least a nodding acquaintance with criminal defense.
Gillum is accused of siphoning political contributions into his personal accounts after DeSantis won, accepting unreported gifts, and working with donors to conceal high-dollar contributions. One unintentionally humorous note in this story: Gillum might actually have defrauded GEORGE SOROS of up to $137,000. The way Soros throws his money around to leftists, I’m surprised he didn’t just GIVE Gillum the money for...well, whatever.
“That accusation is especially awkward for Elias,” the WFB continues, “because Soros is a longtime ally.” They were both major players on the Hillary team. After Trump beat Hillary, Elias even joined the board of a Soros-funded super-PAC. It might be no accident that Elias has these connections to both sides of the Gillum case; perhaps he has some way to leverage his unique position.
Elias released a statement that was the standard attorney blah-blah: “The government got it wrong today. The evidence in this case is clear and will show that Mr. Gillum is innocent of all charges. We look forward to putting this case to rest and giving Andrew and his family peace once and for all.”
See details of the indictment here.
According to the indictment, the FBI, looking into corruption in the city of Tallahassee in 2016, were “steered to” then-mayor Gillum and his mentor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, who currently heads the National Black Justice Coalition and calls the investigation “racially motivated.” (And with DeSantis in the governor’s office, she sees “democracy in peril.”) So, the FBI must have been investigating Gillum while he was a candidate for governor. NBC News says Gillum “had been under federal investigation for years.”
Gillum was the kind of candidate Democrats sadly flock to: he checked a diversity box –- the first black candidate for governor in Florida –- and was a dynamic speaker, as if that alone could actually solve problems. His stated goal was to “turn Florida blue.” After he lost the governor’s race, he became (surprise!) a CNN commentator, Harvard University guest lecturer, and frequent guest on Bill Maher’s HBO show.
With elections this fall and Gillum’s upcoming trial, Marc Elias must be racking up the billable hours. NBC News has much more detail on the Gillum case..
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