House Democrats want to impeach Attorney General James Uthmeier for his role in the diversion of $10 million in a settlement over Medicaid overpayments that was routed into political committees he controlled.
The committees opposed two measures on the November 2024 ballot. A recently leaked grand jury report found the money was “misappropriated” but didn’t find enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime. CBS News Miami was the first to obtain and publicize the leaked report.
Nevertheless, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa on Wednesday called for a special session to consider Uthmeier’s impeachment.
“The grand jury clearly found that this was a criminal action involving the misappropriation of taxpayer money - your money, my money, our money - by republicans at the highest levels of state government who put their own political ambitions over helping the people they were elected to serve,” Driskell told reporters in a video press conference.
The grand jury report centered on a $67 million settlement between the state and Centene, a Medicaid vendor. Of those funds, $10 million was sent to the Hope Florida Foundation, the charity arm of an initiative started by First Lady Casey DeSantis to help connect those in need to nonprofits.
The foundation then funneled the money into two nonprofit organizations, which in turn gave the money to political committees helmed by Uthmeier, who at the time was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff. DeSantis later appointed him to be Attorney General.
Uthmeier’s committee used the funds to oppose proposals on the November 2024 ballot that would have installed a right to an abortion and legalized recreational marijuana. DeSantis stridently opposed both measures, which failed to get the 60 percent support needed to pass.
In addition to the impeachment special session Driskell and the House Democratic caucus called for a House committee to investigate the findings of the grand jury report, and consider the impeachment of others named in the report.
“We must show that corruption Even at the highest levels of state government will not be tolerated,” Driskell said.
Other members of the caucus said people need to be held accountable, including DeSantis.
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“Someone should go to jail for this,” said Rep. Rita Harris, D-Orlando.
DeSantis and Uthmeier, though, have defended their actions, noting the grand jury didn’t result in any charges and asserting the settlement was legally sound, even though the Legislature wasn’t told of how the money would be spent.
A spokesman for Uthmeier didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. But Uthmeier previously told Fox News the leak of the report was “another politicized, weaponized attack” by Democratic state attorney Jack Campbell in Leon County “the most liberal county in the state.”
The grand jury report, though, notes it was only convened upon allegations made by state Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, chairman of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, who led a probe into the matter in 2025.
Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, has called for further investigations into the matter and promised he’ll pursue them if he’s elected. U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, his Republican opponent, has said he wouldn’t support new probes but pledged to work with the Legislature to ensure similar diversions of taxpayer funds aren’t done in the future.
"We are going to work with the Legislature. We're going to make the necessary law changes so that this does not occur again," Donalds told WUSF at a campaign stop in Tampa on Monday.
