July 12, 2023 - Loomer Unleashed - Laura Loomer
10:05
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| Hey everybody, welcome to a new episode of Loomer Unleashed. | |
| I'm your host, Laura Loomer. | |
| And on today's episode, we're going to talk about how Ron DeSantis deceptively fundraised and then weaponized millions of dollars from Trump supporters during the 2022 election, only to turn around and use that money to attack President Donald Trump, pay off the Florida Speaker of the House, and also change Florida's election laws. | |
| Presidential campaigns are expensive. | |
| That is an undeniable fact. | |
| But what's also an undeniable fact is the fact that fundraising numbers can easily be distorted and manipulated to make a candidate appear stronger than they really are. | |
| And that's exactly what's happening in the case of Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign. | |
| During the 2022 election, when he was running for re-election as governor of Florida for another four-year term, Ron DeSantis actually broke fundraising records when it comes to gubernatorial elections. | |
| He raised over $200 million and spent over $100 million for his gubernatorial re-election. | |
| It was the most money ever spent for a gubernatorial race in this country, and it left a lot of people asking questions when the race ended. | |
| What exactly does Ron DeSantis need an extra $100 million for? | |
| And what's he going to do with this money now that he has successfully won re-election for a second term as Florida's governor? | |
| But if you're a reader of my Substack and you've been following me and my reporting for the last two years, then you're ahead of the curve because you know that Ron DeSantis has been plotting a presidential run for the last two years. | |
| And that's exactly what he did. | |
| And that's why he made an effort to raise over $100 million more than he really needed to win re-election in 2022 because he's stockpiling that money for his presidential run. | |
| Now, if you take a look at Ron DeSantis' fundraising numbers from 2022, then you'll see that majority of the donations came from Trump supporters. | |
| Why is this? | |
| Well, that's because Ron DeSantis only became a known entity in Republican politics after 2018 when President Donald Trump endorsed his failing gubernatorial run against Andrew Gillum and essentially dragged him across the finish line. | |
| The same thing happened, of course, in 2022. | |
| But of course, Ron DeSantis was more well known than he was in 2018. | |
| But most of the donors are Trump supporters. | |
| And so these people who donated the $200 million to Ron DeSantis in 2022 were hoping that their money was going to be used to support what they thought was an America first pro-Trump governor. | |
| Now, their money, without their consent, is being used to attack President Donald Trump because just days before officially filing to run for president, Ron DeSantis had the name of his PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, changed to the Empower Parents PAC. And you can see this on the Division of Elections website. | |
| They changed the name of it so that it wouldn't look like a Ron DeSantis PAC was transferring $82.5 million of funds that were left over from the 2022 election over to his presidential PAC called Never Back Down. | |
| But that's exactly what happened. | |
| And making this even more sketchy and more unethical, one day after they transferred the $82.5 million to the Never Back Down PAC, The Empower Parents PAC, otherwise known as the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC, filed paperwork with the Division of Elections in Florida asking to officially disband the PAC. So now you can no longer see these records online. | |
| You can see their previous expenditure reports, but the PAC no longer exists because if you look at the Division of Elections website, you'll see that Ron DeSantis took nearly $82.5 million of money sent by hard workers This is an incredible act of deception and corruption by Governor Ron DeSantis. | |
| The expenditure reports from Ron DeSantis' PAC And some of the last transactions that were made before the PAC was completely shuttered following his announcement for president and the transfer of the $82.5 million to Never Back Down shows that an additional $1 million was transferred over to a newly propped up PAC that was created on May 8th of 2023. | |
| This is the Empower Parents Florida PAC that is controlled by Speaker of the House Paul Runner. | |
| And that matters because it really begs the question, was this $1 million transfer of funds to Paul Runner's newly propped up PAC a payoff or a form of bribery? | |
| So that he could get the job done and get the Florida legislature to change Florida's resigned to run law? | |
| What exactly does he need a million dollars for? | |
| And why was the name created to match the name of Ron DeSantis' PAC as a way to turn people off from following this money trail? | |
| And I personally think there needs to be an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office into Florida Speaker of the House Paul Renner because the people of Florida need to know what exactly was this $1 million for? | |
| Not only was Ron DeSantis able to get Paul Renner to change Florida's resigned-to-run law, but he also was able to get his hand-selected and hand-appointed Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who he appointed in May of 2022, to change the Florida Political Handbook. | |
| And what were the changes that he had Secretary of State Cord Bird make? | |
| Well, the changes relate to the transfer of funds, specifically how funds could be transferred from state political entities over to entities outside of the state. | |
| DeSantis and Bird's altering of the Florida Political Committee Handbook is significant as it covers this specific kind of transferring of funds that Ron DeSantis and his allies are counting on throughout the 2024 election, So that they can secure the nomination for Ron DeSantis and send him to the White House. | |
| In fact, the rule changes by DeSantis and Byrd has already prompted the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group, to file an official complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding the legality of the nearly $83 million of donations that were transferred from DeSantis' state PAC To his presidential PAC, Never Back Down, for the sake of attacking President Donald Trump. | |
| If you read the complaint, you'll see that it alleges that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has violated federal campaign finance laws by directing and transferring over $80 million from his state PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, to the super PAC, Never Back Down. | |
| How can Florida voters or voters all across the country trust that the Florida Republican presidential primary is going to be fair when Ron DeSantis has only centralized the amount of power that he has over Florida elections? | |
| Previous versions of the Florida handbook stated, quote, a Florida political committee must use its funds solely for political activities. | |
| However, the version for the 2024 cycle that was changed by Cord Bird at Ron DeSantis' request now states, quote, And what's even more sinister about this is these updates were made to the Florida Political Handbook in March of 2023, which happens to be the same exact time that the Never Back Down PAC was created to support Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign. | |
| Gee, what a coincidence. | |
| And then shortly after, just two months later, Ron DeSantis officially filed to run for president, and what do you know, his Ron DeSantis has a history of changing Florida laws for his own benefit. | |
| His continued financial entanglement with the Florida GOP is not only unethical but it's highly questionable. | |
| Additionally, last week, the Florida GOP announced a change of rules for candidates who wish to be on the ballot for the presidential primary. | |
| Combined with their last minute rule changes, if you want to get access to the ballot, along with their financial entanglement, as is seen in these expenditure reports with Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, the Florida Republican Party has a lot of questions to answer. | |
| Ron DeSantis has weaponized the Florida government and the Republican Party of Florida for the sake of rigging the Florida Republican primary to not only benefit himself, but to also buy off loyalty from key state and election officials within the Republican Party of Florida. | |
| If Republican voters are truly focused on combating the weaponization of government, well, they need not look any further than the administration of Ron DeSantis. | |
| Because clearly, just like Joe Biden, Ron DeSantis has no problem bending the rules and enriching himself, his family and his political allies, so long as the price and the long term political payoff are just right. | |
| Thanks for watching. | |
| See you next time on Loomer Unleashed. | |
| I'm Laura Loomer, and if you enjoyed this content, please be sure you subscribe to my sub stack, lauraloomer.substack.com. | |
| It's free to subscribe, but if you want to support my independent journalism, you can subscribe for $7 a month or $70 a year. | |
| Also, please be sure that you're following me on Twitter, Gab, Getter, and Truth Social at Laura Loomer. | |
| I'd also like to take a moment to thank the sponsor of this episode of Loomer Unleashed, Goldco. | |
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