The corruption scandal surrounding Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum continued to grow on Friday as newly-released documents show that an undercover FBI agent, who posed as a developer seeking to do business with Gillum’s Tallahassee government, allegedly paid thousands of dollars to support a fundraiser for Gillum’s political action committee, Forward Florida.
“It is the first piece of evidence linking the ongoing FBI probe to Gillum’s campaign for governor,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported. “The emails and receipts released Friday as part of a supplemental records request from the Florida Commission on Ethics shows that the agent, Mike Miller, was invoiced $4,386 by 101 Restaurant and Mint Lounge, a restaurant owned by lobbyist Adam Corey at the time.”
Chris Kise, Corey’s lawyer, released the documents on Friday, saying, “Facts are not partisan. They are facts,” Kise said.
“I am only doing my job for my client,” Kise continued, in response to Democrats’ attacks on him. “I didn’t make up the facts nor did he. When you can’t refute the obvious facts you then attack the messenger.”
Forward Florida “was originally set up as a general leadership committee focusing on improving life for Tallahassee and Florida residents, but its mission statement was crafted by Gillum … via city email,” the Tallahassee Democrat noted. “Once Gillum officially announced his candidacy in March 2017, Forward Florida officially became his gubernatorial PAC.”
The dinner fundraiser for Gillum was hosted at Corey’s house and was described in one email as the “first kickoff event” for Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign.
Those attending the dinner had to make a minimum donation of $5,000 person, but Corey arranged a special way for Miller, the undercover FBI agent, to donate to the fundraiser, allowing him to pay for “the cost of the meals and drinks.”
“Attached is the invoice for the dinner you so graciously offered to sponsor,” Corey thanked Miller in an email. “As mentioned it was a bit higher than I expected because of some last minute attendees so let me know what you would like to cover and I’ll handle the rest.”
The new development is just the latest disaster for the Gillum campaign with only 11 days before the election.
Earlier this week, Gillum was caught lying about accepting a ticket to the Broadway show Hamilton after newly released records showed that an undercover FBI agent was the one who gave him the ticket.
Gillum’s campaign had claimed on September 4 and again this week that he received the ticket from his brother, Marcus Gillum, despite the contradictory evidence.
Gillum also refused to answer Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis’ question at a recent debate as to whether he paid for the Hamilton ticket.