TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A former campaign staffer for the Democratic candidate in Florida who came close to defeating the Republican incumbent governor, Ron DeSantis, in the 2018 election testified on Thursday that the owner of the public relations business that was charged alongside the former candidate was actively engaged in the campaign’s attempts to increase voter turnout.
According to a source in the Tallahassee Democrat, the federal prosecutors who were prosecuting Andrew Gillum, a former mayor of Tallahassee and a contender for governor in 2018, as well as Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the owner of P&P Communications, rested their public corruption case about midday. They are accused of fraudulently collecting funds for their campaign and then funneling those donations into their accounts.
The legal team representing Gillum did not call any witnesses before resting their case, although the legal team representing Lettman-Hicks did.
Former State Representative Alan Williams, who is now a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, was one of the witnesses that spoke at the hearing. In his testimony, he said that he joined Andrew Gillum’s campaign for governor after the primary election, even though he worked via the state Democratic Party.
Williams testified that the get-out-the-vote effort that the campaign ran was highly effective and that Lettman-Hicks was actively engaged in it. Williams also said that Lettman-Hicks was a part of the campaign.
The campaign spent a total of $130,000 on attempts to increase voter turnout in the counties of Leon and Gadsden. The prosecution claims that sixty thousand dollars of it was improperly transferred to P&P Communications, and from there to Lettman-Hicks and Gillum.
Williams testified that the get-out-the-vote budget for the campaign was probably less than it should have been and that it was acceptable to give an experienced individual $60,000 in compensation. Williams also said that the budget for the campaign was probably less than it should have been.
Williams claimed when questioned that he also thought Gillum to be honest and stated during his testimony that Lettman-Hicks had a reputation for being genuine and honest. Williams also stated that Lettman-Hicks had a reputation for being truthful and honest.
Williams expressed his confidence in Gillum, saying, “I’d trust Andrew Gillum with the lives of my children.”
Neither Lettman-Hicks nor Gillum has provided testimony at this point.
The trial against Gillum started on Monday of last week, and the jurors were able to hear final arguments and jury instructions on Friday before they began deliberating.
The United States Attorney’s Office has spent the last week and a half making its case that Andrew Gillum illegally pocketed campaign donations because he was having a difficult time paying for his lifestyle after abandoning his job to run for governor of Florida. The allegations that Gillum committed this act stem from the fact that Gillum abandoned his job to run for governor of Florida.
Prosecutors claim that Gillum abandoned his position at $120,000 per year at People for the American Way to seek the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida. At the time, Gillum was making payments on two luxury automobiles and a huge mortgage, and he was also paying tuition for his children to attend a private school.
Gillum’s victory in the campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2018 came as a big surprise to many people since he did it with far less financial backing than the other contenders.
During the general election, he revitalized the party’s core supporters and came dangerously close to defeating DeSantis. Before DeSantis could be declared the victor, the votes had to be recounted.
According to the prosecutors, one of the persons that Gillum’s team reached out to for campaign donations was an undercover FBI agent masquerading as a developer researching projects in Florida’s capital.
The prosecution also stated that Gillum used his brother Marcus as a go-between to solicit illicit contributions. Marcus Gillum is running for the same office as his brother Andrew.
According to the investigators, Gillum routed those contributions as well as others via P&P, which resulted in his being placed on the payroll even though he was not working for the six-figure income.
During the opening comments last week, the counsel for the defense, Margot Moss, said that Gillum’s job at P&P was a genuine one.
According to Moss, Lettman-Hicks was aware that Gillum was a growing political figure after he delivered a significant address at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. As a result, the company wanted Gillum to assist drive business to the firm.
She went on to say that Marcus Gillum solicited funds for his brother Andrew Gillum’s campaign for governor on his initiative because he wanted to make a good impression on his elder brother.
Andrew Gillum is also charged with lying to the FBI concerning a trip he took to New York, where undercover FBI agents met him, his brother, and lobbyist friend Adam Corey, who had previously introduced Gillum to the investigators.
This accusation stems from the fact that Gillum is accused of lying to the FBI about the trip. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) footed the bill for hotel accommodations, tickets to the play “Hamilton,” dinners, and a boat tour of New York Harbor.
Gillum was not the first focus of the inquiry, according to the agent who testified that he paid for entertainment in New York on Gillum’s behalf.
Rather, the agency was looking into the developer J.T. Burnette when they started looking into Gillum as they began to unpeel the corruption that implicated Burnette and then-City Commissioner Scott Maddox, another former mayor of Tallahassee who campaigned for governor more than a decade ago.
The previous year, Maddox entered a guilty plea to charges of public corruption, and Burnette was found guilty by a jury of bribery, extortion, and other offenses.
