The StoneZONE - Roger Stone - Alex Andrade | 04-16-25
Aired: 2025-04-17
Duration: 18:23


=== Attorney General's Alleged Fraud (15:15) ===

[00:00:00]  Rural Americans deserve access to the best of what our country has to offer, especially health care.
[00:00:05]  Across every state, every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
[00:00:14]  No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
[00:00:18]  They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
[00:00:23]  Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
[00:00:35]  Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
[00:00:42]  Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
[00:00:45]  They employ our neighbors and keep our families healthy.
[00:00:48]  But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
[00:00:52]  Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.
[00:00:56]  Don't cut rural health care.
[00:01:01]  The Stone Zone.
[00:01:02]  Entertaining and informative on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
[00:01:07]  And we're back in the Stone Zone.
[00:01:10]  Joining us now is the chairman of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee in Florida.
[00:01:15]  State Representative Alex Andrade has served in the legislature for seven years.
[00:01:22]  He is an accomplished and respected attorney in his hometown of Pensacola.
[00:01:27]  He passed the bill to ban forced vaccinations in Florida.
[00:01:31]  He passed the bill banning DEI and higher education in Florida.
[00:01:35]  He also passed the bill removing all of Disney's carve-outs and sweetheart deals.
[00:01:42]  Alex, welcome to the Stone Zone.
[00:01:45]  Good afternoon.
[00:01:46]  Thanks for having me, Roger.
[00:01:47]  I watched you yesterday on Matt Gates' show on OAN.
[00:01:52]  I thought it was an excellent presentation.
[00:01:54]  I learned a lot more about this burgeoning scandal.
[00:01:58]  I found it interesting that while you were conducting a very effective public hearing that I think informed the public about what's going on here, the governor was in your home district attacking you and insisting that there's nothing to see here.
[00:02:14]  Your reaction.
[00:02:16]  Well, you know, I'm always glad when the governor visits my hometown.
[00:02:19]  I'm proud to represent it in the Florida House.
[00:02:22]  Unfortunately, it wasn't Governor DeSantis' best press conference.
[00:02:26]  He came off a little manic.
[00:02:28]  He came off very emotional.
[00:02:31]  And it's all in response to simple questions we're asking about how much he knew, how much Attorney General James Uthmeyer knew when James Uthmeyer steered $10 million of Medicaid money into his own pack.
[00:02:45]  Yeah, I mean, is there any doubt in your mind that former DeSantis chief of staff and now Attorney General of the state of Florida illegally transferred these funds from Hope Florida into a political vehicle that he controlled called Keep Florida Clean?
[00:03:02]  There's no doubt in my mind that he did that.
[00:03:06]  I believe, I believe, again, I'm not a prosecutor, but I believe that he committed money laundering and wire fraud and potentially Medicaid fraud by steering this Medicaid money, $10 million of it, into his own pack.
[00:03:20]  So what should the money received by Hope Florida, what was it supposed to be used for?
[00:03:25]  Or what would have been an appropriate use for it?
[00:03:27]  Or should they never have had it at all?
[00:03:30]  They should never have had it at all.
[00:03:32]  This is Medicaid money.
[00:03:33]  It should have gone back to the state for proper accounting so that we can avoid future fines from the federal government and CMS.
[00:03:40]  Unfortunately, the Governor DeSantis administration is somewhat incompetent in the management of our funds.
[00:03:47]  It's resulted in almost a billion dollars in fines in recent years.
[00:03:51]  And this is just another example of his incompetence as a manager.
[00:03:57]  As I understand it, the Hope Florida operation hasn't filed a number of required disclosures and has not met a number of additional legal requirements.
[00:04:10]  Can you run us through that?
[00:04:13]  Yes, sir.
[00:04:13]  So the Hope Florida Foundation, they're a 501c3 charity.
[00:04:17]  So they're supposed to file reports with the IRS called 990s showing their income and expenses.
[00:04:23]  And they're supposed to provide documents about conflicts of interest with board members, their policies on how they award grants.
[00:04:31]  They're supposed to keep minutes of their meetings.
[00:04:33]  They're supposed to comply with Florida sunshine laws related to their meetings.
[00:04:36]  And they haven't done any of that.
[00:04:38]  They haven't even reported their financial assets to the state.
[00:04:43]  And they're technically an arm of the state.
[00:04:46]  They're a DSO, a direct support organization for a Florida agency called the Department of Children and Families.
[00:04:55]  The whole thing is really kind of shocking.
[00:04:57]  During a speech yesterday, DeSantis was adamant that his wife was responsible for Hope Florida, said he had no ownership of it, didn't devise it.
[00:05:06]  She set the vision.
[00:05:07]  Do you think the governor is throwing his wife under the bus?
[00:05:11]  It sure sounded like it.
[00:05:14]  You know, I don't think he likes, you know, being implicated in a money laundering and a wire fraud scheme.
[00:05:23]  But unfortunately, his chief of staff absolutely is.
[00:05:28]  So, no, I'm sure that he's embarrassed.
[00:05:31]  But at the same time, if you know Governor DeSantis, he does not believe the rules apply to him, and this circumstance is no different.
[00:05:40]  He's mad that anyone's questioning this money laundering and wire fraud, and he believes the rules don't apply to him.
[00:05:47]  And unfortunately for him, he's learning the hard way that that's not the case.
[00:05:51]  Yeah, it looks to me like the Hope Florida Foundation dodged legally required audits, financial plans, and ethics clothes.
[00:05:58]  When you and your colleagues simply asked for records, the First Lady and her husband's team have just stonewalled them.
[00:06:06]  State law says that settlement funds should go to a state trust or a general fund for lawmakers to allocate.
[00:06:12]  Instead, the governor and his team diverted a huge chunk of this money to Casey's nonprofit.
[00:06:19]  As I say again, the Hope Florida Foundation hasn't filed required audits, tax returns, or the ethics disclosures.
[00:06:27]  I think this is all about setting up a platform for Casey DeSantis' putative run for governor to keep the DeSantises in power as some kind of a dynasty.
[00:06:40]  I really think it's interesting that while Governor and Mrs. DeSantis were flying to Washington to meet President Trump to try to persuade him to be neutral in the upcoming contest for governor, President Donald Trump issued a warm and strong endorsement of Naples area congressman Byron Donalds.
[00:07:02]  If anybody doesn't see everything that's playing out here within the backdrop of this upcoming gubernatorial campaign, I'm not sure they really understand, do they?
[00:07:12]  No, sir.
[00:07:13]  I don't.
[00:07:14]  And in full disclosure, I haven't endorsed Byron Donald's yet.
[00:07:18]  I think that there might be other good candidates.
[00:07:20]  I haven't, you know, it's still almost two years out.
[00:07:23]  I can tell you definitively that Floridians don't like dynasties, and they don't support the idea of Casey DeSantis running for governor, especially as we're seeing all these revelations about the mismanagement, misuse, and misappropriation of funds.
[00:07:39]  You know, I live in Florida, and I find that when I'm critical on social media, because on X, I'm at Roger J. Stone Jr., Roger Joseph J.R., pretty outspoken.
[00:07:51]  People tell me that Governor DeSantis is the best governor in the country.
[00:07:55]  He's one of the most conservative governors in the country.
[00:07:58]  In all honesty, I then look and I find out that these people don't live in Florida.
[00:08:02]  Since Governor DeSantis took office, Homer and Homeowner insurance premiums have tripled, averaging $6,000 a year, the highest in the nation.
[00:08:11]  His reforms handed insurers $2 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts while letting the big insurance companies dodge lawsuits.
[00:08:20]  I think this leaves Floridians with soaring rates and no recourse when companies deny their claims.
[00:08:26]  And then under Governor DeSantis, he essentially, because the Public Service Commission is stacked with his loyalists, rubber stamped the largest single utility rate hike in Florida history, that by Florida Power and Light, increasing our bills by 20%.
[00:08:47]  Meanwhile, medium home prices have jumped 65% under Governor DeSantis from $254,000 in 2018 to $420,000 in 2024.
[00:08:59]  His inaction on affordability and his very cozy ties with developers seem to me to prioritize profits over people, and they're pricing out retirees and young Floridians.
[00:09:10]  My daughter is looking for some place to live and she's finding the prices.
[00:09:15]  It's impossible to buy, but it's virtually also impossible to rent.
[00:09:22]  And then lastly, I'm particularly unhappy about the way that the governor has gutted our sunshine laws.
[00:09:28]  Florida used to be a state where any taxpayer could, upon filing, find out what any government entity or energy or agency was doing.
[00:09:39]  Today, it is most opaque.
[00:09:41]  They won't even tell us not where the governor's airplane has been, is going to go, but they won't even tell us where it has been, saying that that's a security issue.
[00:09:50]  I kind of doubt that.
[00:09:52]  I'm not sure that those who don't live in Florida can fully understand what's going on here.
[00:09:59]  No, I agree.
[00:10:01]  And again, the whole refusal to comply with the public records laws or the sunshine laws here in Florida, just another instance of Governor DeSantis thinking that the rules don't apply to him and that he gets some kind of special privilege not to follow the same rules regular Floridians have to follow.
[00:10:17]  Rural Americans deserve access to the best of what our country has to offer, especially health care.
[00:10:23]  Across every state, every community, America's rural hospitals are the first line of defense, protecting our families, neighbors, and loved ones.
[00:10:32]  No matter where you live, hospital care doesn't clock out.
[00:10:35]  They're there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
[00:10:40]  Each year, America's over 5,000 hospitals care for millions of patients, providing 24-7 emergency care, delivering babies, cancer treatments, and other life-saving care that patients rely on.
[00:10:52]  Behind every one of those patients are doctors, nurses, and caregivers working tirelessly to keep people healthy and safe.
[00:11:00]  Hospitals are our community's lifelines.
[00:11:02]  They employ our neighbors and keep our families healthy.
[00:11:06]  But now, some in Congress are threatening access to care.
[00:11:09]  Tell Congress, protect patient care to keep America strong.
[00:11:14]  Don't cut rural health care.
[00:11:19]  You know, he bragged about Florida's freedom from COVID, but then he quietly signed a law which shielded big pharma from vaccination lawsuits.
[00:11:27]  So all of his tough talk, in my view, hit a sellout to corporate interest, betraying the folks who trusted him to fight the system.
[00:11:36]  Additionally, I'd say that he signed off on $1.5 billion in new taxes and fees since 2019, including higher vehicle registrations and online sales taxes, hitting small businesses and families.
[00:11:49]  He calls it no new taxes, but Floridians feel a pinch while he takes credit for cuts.
[00:11:56]  His administration also pushed $1.3 billion, the purchase of $1.4 million of conservation acres through the Florida Forever program.
[00:12:06]  But key parcels went to developers who had close ties to the governor or were his donors.
[00:12:11]  It's a bait and switch that I think has betrayed taxpayers and paves over Florida's future.
[00:12:19]  I know that you're not a prosecutor, but you are a respected attorney.
[00:12:24]  With the current Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeyer, being a chief suspect in this case, do you think the U.S. federal attorney should prosecute Uthmeier or the governor and his wife?
[00:12:37]  I absolutely believe the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida should be investigating this as wire fraud and money laundering.
[00:12:44]  I don't know if they will.
[00:12:45]  That's a question that they have to answer.
[00:12:48]  But from my perspective, based on the information that's published, the information that I'm aware of, I believe that there's no excuse if the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District does not investigate this as Medicaid fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
[00:13:02]  I guess time will tell.
[00:13:04]  What are the future in terms of, do you expect to have additional hearings?
[00:13:08]  I mean, where does this go next?
[00:13:10]  Yes, sir.
[00:13:11]  No, I plan to have another hearing on Monday where the two dark money groups that funneled this $10 million to James Uthmeyer's PAC have been invited to come and explain themselves.
[00:13:23]  And I've also invited Governor DeSantis' personal attorney, Jeff Aaron, to come and explain himself and his role in this wire fraud and money laundering scheme.
[00:13:32]  Do you think that you have the authority to bring both the governor and his wife and the attorney general in front of your committee?
[00:13:43]  You might have the technical ability.
[00:13:45]  I'm not sure if we'll do that.
[00:13:47]  That would be, again, I'm a subcommittee chairman of a budget committee here in Florida.
[00:13:54]  I don't know necessarily if that's the right venue.
[00:13:59]  At some point, it's got to escalate beyond a subcommittee.
[00:14:04]  And I think if it does escalate beyond a subcommittee, then yes, those individuals should be invited to come explain themselves.
[00:14:11]  I think it would be only appropriate.
[00:14:13]  It would make for some very epic television.
[00:14:19]  It is amazing yesterday the way that the governor tried to push this again off on his wife.
[00:14:25]  Do you, now just get into politics, just straight politics, because that's what we do here in the Stone Zone.
[00:14:30]  Do you think at the end of the day that Casey DeSantis will, in fact, run for governor?
[00:14:35]  I don't know.
[00:14:37]  That's up to her to decide.
[00:14:39]  I don't believe that she'll be able to run on a platform bragging about Hope Florida, given all the revelations we've discovered in the past few weeks.
[00:14:46]  That is certainly true.
[00:14:49]  I am of the opinion that those who believe that Florida is now a reliably red state may be mistaken.
[00:15:00]  It is certainly true that Governor DeSantis carried it by almost 20 points in his last reelection, but I also think that the hurricane was a major factor in that, that it allowed him to dominate all free media for the closing weeks of that campaign.

=== Florida's Political Landscape (02:38) ===

[00:15:15]  His opponent, former Governor Charlie Crist, you may remember him.
[00:15:20]  He was a Republican, then an Independent, then a Democrat.
[00:15:24]  Reminds me of that old joke, a Republican, a Democrat, and an independent walked into a bar, the bartender said, Hi, Charlie.
[00:15:30]  Anyway, he was counting very heavily on free media coverage since he couldn't raise nearly as much as the DeSantis juggernaut, and he got no coverage.
[00:15:42]  So I think, yes, Governor DeSantis would have won in the off-year election, but not by 20 points.
[00:15:48]  And of course, Donald Trump is a phenomenon unto himself.
[00:15:53]  Nobody else could do what he has done.
[00:15:57]  And he scored very heavily in the Sunshine State, seemingly different than any other Republican.
[00:16:04]  Spent not, for example, a penny on Spanish language radio, which I think has been utilized very, very effectively by Republican candidates here in the Sunshine State.
[00:16:14]  But the Trump campaign did not spend money on that, yet he won very solidly.
[00:16:20]  In fact, Democrat state chairwoman Nikki Freed is going to be in the Stone Zone tomorrow to talk about this issue, the Hope issue, and others.
[00:16:30]  She and others of my friends in the other party still believe this is a purple state, that it can go either way.
[00:16:38]  You have any thoughts on that?
[00:16:40]  Well, I would push back a little bit.
[00:16:45]  You know, Governor DeSantis was very popular coming out of COVID just because, as a state, as a large state, we were better than most other large states.
[00:16:54]  I don't think Governor DeSantis was perfect on COVID.
[00:16:57]  I recall having to push him, beg, and plead for him to open up certain things like vacation rentals back in my home area and panhandle.
[00:17:06]  You know, so there's been some whitewashing, some astro turfing of his record on COVID.
[00:17:11]  He certainly wasn't perfect, but he enjoyed a lot of popularity from that.
[00:17:17]  The problem for him at this point is you can only get so much bandwidth out of one instance from four or five years ago.
[00:17:25]  And he's been beating that dead horse for years and disregarding kind of a record of failure as a manager of the state.
[00:17:35]  I mean, as the governor, he's the chief executive officer.
[00:17:38]  He's supposed to be managing the executive branch of the state, and he's just terrible at it.
[00:17:43]  All right, we're going to have to leave it there.
[00:17:45]  I want to thank my guest, State Representative Alex Andrade of the 7th, pardon me, the 2nd District of Florida.

=== Thank You, Alex (00:28) ===

[00:17:54]  Thank you very much for joining us today in the Stone Zone.
[00:17:57]  God bless you, my friend, and keep up the good work.
[00:18:01]  Thank you, sir.
[00:18:02]  Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.
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