Gillum absent from the indictment after DeSantis bribed him

Republicans spent at least $ 7 million in television commercials. – 27% of the $ 26 million spent in the legislative elections was dropped – Gillum's attack as part of the FBI's investigation. The investigation however revealed that the investigation had little to do with the former mayor.

The campaign, however, had negative consequences and Gillum was beaten by DeSantis by the narrowest margin ever recorded by a Florida Democrat in the legislative elections: 0.39 percentage point, or 32,463 votes out of more than 8 , 2 million votes cast. The investigation resulted in collateral damage for the mayor of Tallahassee, which resulted in a multiple indictment of Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox and his former chief of staff, Paige Carter-Smith, director executive of the Downtown Improvement Authority of the city, which was his alleged crime partner.

US prosecutor Stephen Kunz told federal judge Charles Stampelos on Wednesday that the FBI's investigation into corruption was ongoing.

However, Gillum is unlikely to be a target in this or a related case, said Steven R. Andrews, a criminal. defense attorney who represented the city director when he was brought before a grand jury. He added that his client had never been questioned about Gillum and that he had stated that FBI agents had warned him that he was not a target.

"If the FBI had anything on Gillum, it would have already brought him or it would be under this indictment," said Andrews, a Republican who has worked to help the GOP during previous races. "They have nothing on Gillum. He got fucked. "

DeSantis spokesperson did not return calls or messages requesting comment."

Andrews stated that Gillum was not the only casualty of a campaign. defamation that had helped DeSantis win jobs. "The former friend of Gillum University, Andrew Corey, lobbyist Adam Corey, was" ruined by all this, "said Andrews.

L & # 39 Gillum's friendship with Corey – more specifically a trip to New York and Costa Rica – became the subject of deontological complaints from DeSantis and Republicans confused with the FBI.

There was, however, a rational connection: During the trip to New York, an infiltrated FBI agent working on the bribery issue provided Gillum with tickets for the musical "Hamilton." The agent had also accompanied Gillum and Corey to New York. A boat ride in front of the Statue of Liberty, the Gillum's brother was also in New York at the time, and Republicans said he might have been involuntarily on the FBI payroll, an affirmation that Gillum's campaign denied. Republican Chris Kise, Corey's lawyer, unveiled the details of the trip to New York and the "Hamilton" tickets during the final days of the campaign. The documents contradicted Gillum, who claimed to have paid all of his expenses. In a debate, DeSantis asked Gillum to know who paid for the "Hamilton" tickets just before the records were released.

Kise, who was later named to the DeSantis transition team, declined to comment on Maddox's charge, claiming he had not read it. He had previously stated that he was making the documents public, as they would in any case be made public in the ongoing ethics case.

Unlike other Republicans, Kise is however assured never to imply that Gillum would have been the subject of a federal inquiry.

The FBI investigation was talked about in the Tallahassee City Hall in June 2017, when the agency sent subpoenas to obtain documents. Gillum's political opponents in the Democratic primary made sure to pass the word and Gillum's campaign nearly ended as his fundraising dried up and the staff had to leave. But Gillum reacted and breathed a sigh of relief in February, when the Tallahassee Democrat discovered documents stating that Maddox was a target of the investigation.

"The FBI has never assigned any records to Andrew," said Gillum's lawyer, Barry Richard, representing him in the case of the state's ethic. "They never said that he was a suspect. They told him in front of him that he was not a target. The most likely thing is that the entire investigation targeted Maddox from the beginning. "

Richard stated that he did not represent Gillum in the federal case because" I am not aware of any federal case involving him. I told him that he should call me if he had any reason to believe that the FBI was investigating him. He never had to call. "

The case relating to ethics in the state, a crime case, has not yet been resolved.

During the last months of the campaign, Polls showed that Gillum was ahead of DeSantis in the general election, a former congressman and Republicans went into action, calling Gillum corrupt in speeches and paid media in English and Spanish.

Gillum has retaliated by noting that he was trying to help the FBI to conduct a corruption investigation, while DeSantis in Congress was trying to "obstruct" Trump's federal investigation, which in the final days of the campaign personally attacked Gillum.

According to the indictment of Maddox and Smith unveiled on Wednesday, the two participated in a racketeering plot involving two consulting firms that allegedly attempted to use it for extorting companies in exchange for voting e Maddox or his help at City Hall, where he was mayor. Maddox was also a former president of the Florida Democratic Party and unsuccessfully ran a state-wide agricultural commissioner post.

In all, Maddox and Smith reportedly represented or allegedly corrupted six companies business or seeking to do business with the city. The companies, identified in the indictment only as A, B, C, D, E or F, were engaged in construction, engineering, carpooling, waste, development and marijuana for medical purposes. The Tallahassee Democrat identified two companies as Uber and Waste Pro USA.

Maddox and Smith also allegedly defrauded a bank in two short selling transactions.

In one case, an architectural engineering company listed only under the company name A Maddox would have told them to "show me a little bit of love" in order to receive his earnings. In the indictment, Maddox repeatedly quoted the fictional character John "Hannibal" Smith of the "A-Team" show of the 1980s saying "I love this project when a plan is developed. "

One of the companies that had contact with Maddox, company F, was a fictional company created by the FBI to find shameful contracts in the city. It was through this company and its undercover agents that the FBI had initially contacted Gillum prior to his trip to New York. Gillum documentation and investigation documents have never been published and will probably never be published.

For Jamie Van Pelt, Gillum's former chief of staff at City Hall, the fact that it has been proven that he was right is an extreme comfort considering the campaign. tarnish it as corrupt.

"The name of the mayor not being mentioned in the indictment, there is a sense of justification. But as we said from the beginning, it's not a surprise for us. This is not a surprise for the mayor. He was not a target, "said Van Pelt. "But it's not a moment of" I told you "for our community. It is a very dark time. When something like that happens, it shocks a city. "