Florida GOP drops lawsuit against Democrats, TV stations stopping ad citing Hope Florida grand jury report
The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against the Florida Democratic Party, several Democratic figures, and major news broadcasting organizations without prejudice, according to court documents filed late Wednesday afternoon in the Tenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
The lawsuit aimed to stop the airing of a political ad that highlights the leaked Hope Florida grand jury report. One of the Democratic figures targeted in the lawsuit was Attorney General candidate Jose Javier Rodriguez, who is running against incumbent Attorney General James Uthmeier in the 2026 midterm elections, which are less than two weeks away.
RPOF had argued that the ads should have been pulled because the Court of Appeals had expunged the report, but this was met with accusations that the party was violating the First Amendment.
State statutes "make it unlawful for any person to knowingly broadcast the content, gist, or import of testimony of a witness examined before a grand jury. The advertisement does exactly that," the lawsuit states. "It tells viewers that 'a leaked grand jury report found' that '$10 million was misappropriated' – a conclusion the First District held was wrong as a matter of law, based on a document that no longer lawfully exists."
Attorneys representing RPOF stated that the lawsuit had achieved its objective after multiple State Attorneys weighed in on the issue following its filing.
"RPOF is dismissing this case so that the work of the State Attorneys can continue without distraction," the notice stated, acknowledging that criminal investigations and charging decisions ultimately rest with law enforcement officials.
The Florida Democratic Party issued a statement to CBS News Miami, following the dismissal of the lawsuit. The statement noted that Tuesday a judge denied RPOF's request to immediately pull the ad without hearing from the Democrats.
"Well, that didn't take long," said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried in the statement. "Republicans raced to court in the middle of the night to silence us, threatened TV stations, and tried to scare Floridians out of talking about Hope Florida. After a judge denied their emergency request to pull our ad, they walked away from their own case. Their stunt backfired. Thanks to this lawsuit, more Floridians are paying attention, and the pressure for answers keeps mounting. Who decided to send $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the first lady's charity? Why did $8.5 million of it end up in a political committee run by James Uthmeier? And what did the Republican Party of Florida do with its share? Those questions aren't going away just because Republicans dropped their lawsuit."
What does the Hope Florida grand jury report reveal?
The report was finalized in January. It found that, in 2024, the diversion of $10 million from a $67 million Medicaid settlement ended up in a political committee headed by Uthmeier, then-Gov. Ron DeSantis' chief of staff, meant the money was "misappropriated"; no one could be indicted in the case.
The money was first given to the Hope Florida Foundation as part of the settlement with Centene to resolve overpayments. That group then gave the money to two nonprofits, which in turn gave it to Uthmeier's political committee, which opposed two measures on the 2024 ballot. The proposals would have legalized recreational marijuana and installed a right to an abortion in the state constitution, but failed to pass.
The lack of an indictment means that, under state law, the report can be sealed and blocked from public view. Those named in the report petitioned a trial court to prevent its publication, and the court partially agreed, allowing some redactions to be made public.
Those named in the report appealed to the 1st DCA, which originally ruled on Aug. 25 that the grand jury presentment should be expunged, but that ruling was kept hidden from public view. Within 24 hours, CBS News Miami published the unredacted report.