Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has proposed that taxpayers cover the legal costs of Florida presidential candidates who face “politically motivated lawsuits” during an election cycle.
In a thinly veiled reference to former President Donald Trump, who testified Monday in New York in a civil fraud case brought by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James, Patronis said a “Defending Freedom Fighters Fund” is necessary for candidates “targeted by politically motivated lawsuits just because they are brave enough to put their name on a ballot.”
Patronis pitched the idea on Saturday at the Republican Party of Florida’s Freedom Summit. “We need a fund to support this in our state. We can use our record budget surpluses to do it,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter). “That way ANY Floridians who runs for President can have a way to defend themselves from politically motivated lawsuits that just magically appear during an election cycle.”
“That is just wrong. Weaponizing our government is wrong and there should be more resources available to Floridians to fight back!” he added.
Patronis followed up on Monday, as Trump battled and badmouthed allegations that he defrauded investors by inflating the price of his real estate.
“There is a former Republican President of the U.S. sitting on the stand right now in blue New York. There is no victim in the case and the judge already ruled against him before the trial starts,” Patronis said on X.
Virtually everyone running for president against Trump has said these charges are BS. (The judge literally said ‘I do not want to hear’ what Trump has to say!),” he continued.
The CFO said he generated $1.1 billion in interest from Florida’s financial holdings. “Trust me we have plenty of money to defend serious Florida candidates from prosecution by the DOJ [Department of Justice] and other partisan prosecutors.”
“Everyone (I mean that literally!) should be outraged by how our justice system is being weaponized by partisan, left wing Democrats,” Patonis concluded. “I am more committed than ever to setting up this legal defense fund!”
Also on X on Monday, he added, “Why not provide public funding for a Presidential nominee (who’s a Floridian) when DOJ is after them? Are we really going to deny one of our own a fair shot against a witch hunt? We didn’t start this, [President Joe] Biden and liberal prosecutors did. They’re ones trying to deny a fair election.”
Patronis then added that he is talking to lawmakers about the plan.
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