Andrew Gillum legal team demands court hearing, citing Donald Trump rant on Ron DeSantis

Andrew Gillum legal team demands court hearing, citing Donald Trump rant on Ron DeSantis

Show Caption Hide Caption Andrew Gillum appears in federal court after arrest by FBI on public corruption charges Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum had his first appearance in federal court Wednesday on charges involving donations to his campaign for governor. Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat

Former President Donald Trump's post-election screed labeling Florida's governor "Ron DeSanctimonious" didn't go unnoticed by Andrew Gillum or his Miami lawyers.

Trump, in a statement Thursday timed after the election and before his anticipated announcement of a third White House bid, credited himself for Gov. Ron DeSantis' victory in the 2018 governor's race, when he narrowly defeated Gillum.

In addition to saying he helped "fix" DeSantis' campaign after it had "completely fallen apart," Trump said he also got the feds to intervene "when votes were being stolen" in Broward County.

David Markus and Katherine Miller, who are representing Gillum on federal public corruption charges involving donations to his gubernatorial campaign, didn't fire back at insults Trump hurled at Tallahassee's former mayor.

Instead, they cited Trump's statement in a motion filed Friday in federal court saying it further supported their request for a hearing on whether the federal government selectively prosecuted Gillum because of his race. His lawyers asked for the hearing on Election Day motions that also sought dismissals on all counts.

"Former President Trump's posts raise serious questions about how exactly Trump 'fixed' DeSantis' campaign and what Trump directed the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office to do, and whether there is any connection to the FBI's investigation and later prosecution of Gillum," Gillum's lawyers wrote.

In his statement, Trump alluded to fraud without offering any evidence.

"I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win," Trump wrote.

Broward County elections officials fired off a statement on Friday calling Trump's claims flatly untrue.

"The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office has no documentation of any federal law enforcement presence during the 2018 elections," said Ivan Castro, spokesman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections. "Also, to clarify, there is no evidence of corruption during the 2018 election cycle in Broward County."

Lawyers for Gillum, however, said Trump's statement supports a "prima facie case of selective prosecution (at a minimum for political purposes), because Donald Trump confirms that he took action through the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office."

Gillum and his longtime advisor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, were indicted in June on charges that they illegally solicited and pocketed campaign donations. Both were charged with conspiracy and wire fraud, with Gillum also charged with lying to the government.

Trump labeled Gillum a drug addict in his statement, though he used harsher language. Gillum, who in 2020 was found in a Miami Beach hotel with a man suffering from an overdose and suspected baggies of methamphetamine, denied using meth but later went to rehab for alcohol abuse.

Contributed: USA Today Network-Florida politics reporter Zac Anderson.

Contact Jeff Burlew at [email protected] or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

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