Verification of debate by the governor: Andrew Gillum's ticket to Hamilton, $ 145,000 from Ron DeSantis

The central theme of the Florida governor's second and final discussion on October 24 was who spent how much and what, and who ended up paying the price.

For someone who has just started the race, it could have been a bit difficult to follow. PolitiFact has you covered.

Republican Ron DeSantis, a former US Northeast Florida member, accused Democrat Andrew Gillum of accepting tickets to the Broadway show "Hamilton" from a businessman who was in trouble. makes an FBI agent.

Tallahassee Mayor Gillum hinted that DeSantis was concealing how he spent $ 145,000 on congressionally approved travel funds, including trips to New York to appear in Fox News before his run for governorship.

We will settle the details of the two claims. (In a hurry? Here's our quick fact check on what they said.)

DeSantis Strikes Gillum for Story on "Hamilton" Tickets, FBI Investigation

The question of how Gillum got tickets to attend the hottest Broadway show in 2016 was uncovered as part of an investigation into FBI corruption into the development of the city of Tallahassee and a related ethical inquiry.

"When I was working for the FBI, I was doing it as a prosecutor to bring the people to justice," said DeSantis, a former JAG prosecutor in the Navy. "When Andrew deals with the FBI, he deals with an undercover agent as a person of interest in an investigation."

Gillum said that he had received the "Hamilton" tickets from his brother, Marcus.

But records released by a lawyer representing former lobbyist and friend in Gillum, Adam Corey, on Oct. 23, paint a more complete picture of the deal and trace back to an agent's involvement. infiltration of the FBI.

The recordings include emails and text messages between Gillum, Corey and an undercover FBI agent, Mike Miller. They seem at odds with Gillum's explanation for expenses.

Corey, a friend of Gillum since college, is an important character who revolves around the FBI probe. That's because in 2013, the city – and Gillum – voted to donate more than $ 2.1 million in public funding for the renovation of the Edison, a restoration project that Corey is co-owning.

Back to "Hamilton." Gillum traveled to New York on behalf of a non-profit organization for which he was working in August 2016. At the end of the trip, Gillum attended Corey and two undercover agents. The group went by boat to the Statue of Liberty before going to see the Broadway musical.

Corey's texting shows that Corey told Gillum that the tickets came from "Mike Miller", an FBI agent posing as a developer.

"Mike Miller and the team have tickets for us in Hamilton tonight at 8 pm," sent a message to Gillum on August 10, 2016, by Corey.

"Great news about Hamilton," responded Gillum, according to the recordings.

The texts do not support what Gillum's campaign said about it. They also suggest that Gillum's response to a similar question in the CNN debate on October 21 was, to say the least, incomplete.

During the first debate, DeSantis asked Gillum if he had paid for the "Hamilton" tickets.

"I do not make free trips with anyone," Gillum said. "I'm a hard working person, I know that might not fit your description of what people like me do, but I've worked hard for everything I've had in my life , and I do not need anyone give me anything for free. "

In September, the campaign announced in a press release that Gillum's brother, Marcus, had given him the ticket. The press release stated that "after the trip, Mayor Gillum learned that Marcus Gillum had obtained this ticket during an exchange with Adam Corey for a concert ticket."

When the record's history erupted on October 23, Gillum claimed that his brother Marcus had given him the ticket.

"When I arrived at the theater, my brother handed me the ticket," he said that day MSNBC. "The idea that I accepted a gift never came to me."

No explanation included a discussion about the undercover agent known as Mike Miller.

The records show that the officer was trying to get a meeting out of the country with Gillum for months.

As they planned their trip to New York in early July 2016, Miller replied to Corey: "Yes, 3 bedrooms?"

Corey replies, "Yes, it works, me, AG and his brother."

"Understood," says Miller.

"The boat is scheduled for the trip in August and all rooms will be booked," writes Miller, Corey, on July 12.

"Great, thank you for arranging everything," Corey told Miller.

Text messages show that Miller has offered to book a flight for Andrew Gillum and Gillum's brother.

"Send me the information of the mayor and his brother and I will ask my daughter to book their flights," Miller texted on July 13th.

Corey replied that Andrew Gillum had already booked his flight.

"Just tell them to let me know the cost of their flights and I'll cover it," Miller said in a message to Corey in July.

Corey offered Gillum a room in a hotel. Gillum first declined but then said, "I think I'll need a room tomorrow night."

Corey's attorney delivered the documents in response to a subpoena from the State Ethics Commission, which is investigating the displacement in response to a complaint filed by a spokesman for the town hall. Corey's lawyer, Chris Kise, sent the documents to the Gillum and DeSantis campaigns about a week after the commission assigned them.

A spokeswoman for the state ethics commission, Kerrie Stillman, told PolitiFact in an email before the debate: "I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the another complaint about Mr. Gillum. "

DeSantis has $ 145,000 of taxpayer-funded travel

Gillum responded by challenging DeSantis' own transparency, questioning how the former congressman spent $ 145,000 in taxpayer dollars.

"If he wants to talk about receipts, not a Hamilton bill, but $ 145,000 of taxpayer money, why do not you release them?" Gillum said. "Where is the proof of where you went and how our money was spent to allow you to go to New York to hang out in Faux News and Friends?"

It's half true. DeSantis did not issue detailed receipts for the $ 145,000 spent on travel, but overall reported travel expenses.

For example, he disclosed general expenses such as "commercial transportation" but no detailed details about the time of travel, whether by air or by train, whether he was traveling by coach or first class, or other details that would fully show the taxpayer money.

DeSantis replied by stating that although he and Gillum both got travel money, there was an essential difference in how to receive it.

"The difference is that I've got my money legally and through my congressional office to travel from Florida to Washington for six years, twice a week," said DeSantis. "Andrew received financial assistance from the federal government for his travels because it came from an undercover FBI agent who was investigating him for bribery."

With respect to DeSantis, the money in question comes from the representation allowance of members, an annual allowance that congress members can support in the performance of their official duties and representation. Authorized expenses include salaries and benefits, travel and office expenses. It can not be used for personal, campaign or political expenses.

According to a Naples Daily News article dated Oct. 18, DeSantis reportedly spent more than $ 145,000 in taxpayer fees on a trip as a congressman, including at least two trips to New York for Fox News programming . (DeSantis has been in Congress from January 2013 to early September.)

The story does not say that DeSantis went to New York to talk about his campaign – the known trips took place before he officially announced his candidacy in January 2018, when he was not in charge. he was supposed to be in the running for months and that President Donald Trump in December 2017 tweeted that DeSantis "would make a great governor of Florida".

The DeSantis campaign told the Naples Daily News that the two trips to New York were "official office trips including official appearances in the media".

The bottom line is that DeSantis did not disclose detailed travel receipts and that the lack of information leads to uncertainty as to exactly how it used taxpayer money. However, that does not mean that his expenses broke the rules or the laws of the House.

Gillum: "Each of its advertisements mentioning my name has been declared false by PolitiFact." It's wrong. The DeSantis PolitiFact dashboard shows three factual verifications of the Gillum attacks, none of which was an advertisement. One assessed False (Gillum has a "far left socialist platform") and the others rated Half True and Mostly True. The Florida Republican Party ran ads for DeSantis that did not perform well with the Truth-O-Meter. The party erroneously asserted that Gillum was "fleeing the FBI" (False) and that Gillum had refused the help of several utilities after a 2016 hurricane (Mostly False).

DeSantis: Tallahassee had the highest murder rate of last year. With Gillum as mayor, the number of murders in Tallahassee has ranged from 11 to 17, with a record 2017. Several criminology experts have told us that data on the rate of single murders do not tell us much about the murders or the crime committed by the city.

Gillum: He was sued by the NRA for an order banning shooting with guns in city parks. We evaluated a similar claim, Mostly True. The NRA did not participate in the prosecution, but it supported the gun rights groups in their proceedings.

DeSantis: Tallahassee is one of the Florida cities most affected by crime. The county of Leon, which includes Tallahassee, had the highest crime rate in Florida in 2017. City mayors have little control over the common predictors of local crime rates, such as poverty and age .

Gillum: "He has voted several times to remove health care.He has voted several times to allow insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing coverage." DeSantis supported efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act while in Congress. DeSantis was part of the Freedom Caucus, the Conservative wing of the House, which imposed changes that weakened protections for pre-existing conditions. In May 2017, DeSantis voted in favor of the Republicans' American Health Care Act, a bill to replace Obamacare that would have jeopardized the protection of certain pre-existing conditions for certain patients. DeSantis recently released his health care plan in which he stated that "no one should be denied access to medical care because of the existence of a condition. pre-existing ", but it did not include details.

DeSantis: "Andrew is in favor of a single payer plan that will force people to no longer benefit from Medicare, from their employer, to a single payer government-run plan." DeSantis targeted Gillum's approval of US Senator Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill. On the basis of the text of the Senate bill, the bill explicitly retains Medicare and extends it to all residents to "provide comprehensive protection against the costs of health care and medical care. health related services ". It's a national health insurance proposal and is actually more comprehensive than the current Medicare program, including dental care, vision care and long-term care.