The StoneZONE with Roger Stone - April 17, 2025


Alex Andrade ｜ 04-16-25

Topics
Hope Florida Foundation mismanagement Hope Florida election
Hosted by
Roger Stone Troy Smith Jake Novak
Mentioned
Casey DeSantis James Uthmeyer Roger J. Stone Jr. Alex Andrade Donald Trump Byron Donalds Charlie Crist Nikki Freed Matt Gaetz Jeff Aaron Desjardins Sampson Nature Sands
The Stone Zone ｜ 04-15-25 The Stone Zone ｜ 04-17-25

Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

154.37

Word count

2,638

Sentence count

168

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Alex Andrade has served in the Florida legislature for seven years. He is an accomplished and respected attorney in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. He passed the bill to ban forced vaccinations in Florida, and the bill banning all carve-outs and sweetheart deals in higher education in Florida. Andrade is also the chairman of the House Healthcare Budget Subcommittee in Florida's House of Representatives.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:00:30.000 The Stone Zone.
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00:00:34.660 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:00:37.520 And we're back in the Stone Zone.
00:00:39.880 Joining us now is the chairman of the House Healthcare Budget Subcommittee in Florida.
00:00:45.520 State Representative Alex Andrade has served in the legislature for seven years.
00:00:52.260 He is an accomplished and respected attorney in his hometown of Pensacola.
00:00:55.700 He passed the bill to ban forced vaccinations in Florida.
00:01:00.520 He passed the bill banning DEI and higher education in Florida.
00:01:05.140 He also passed the bill removing all of Disney's carve-outs and sweetheart deals.
00:01:12.140 Alex, welcome to the Stone Zone.
00:01:15.300 Good afternoon.
00:01:15.960 Thanks for having me, Roger.
00:01:16.720 I watched you yesterday on Matt Gaetz's show on OAN.
00:01:21.980 I thought it was an excellent presentation.
00:01:24.600 I learned a lot more about this burgeoning scandal.
00:01:28.720 I found it interesting that while you were conducting a very effective public hearing that I think informed the public about what's going on here,
00:01:37.840 the governor was in your home district attacking you and insisting that there's nothing to see here.
00:01:44.140 Your reaction?
00:01:46.020 Well, you know, I'm always glad when the governor visits my hometown.
00:01:49.640 I'm proud to represent it in the Florida House.
00:01:52.400 Unfortunately, it wasn't Governor Sampson's best press conference.
00:01:56.600 He came off a little manic.
00:01:58.340 He came off very emotional.
00:01:59.680 And it's all in response to simple questions we're asking about how much he knew, how much Attorney General James Uthmeyer knew when James Uthmeyer steered $10 million of Medicaid money into his own PAC.
00:02:13.780 Yeah, I mean, is there any doubt in your mind that the former DeSantis Chief of Staff and now Attorney General of the State of Florida illegally transferred these funds from Hope Florida into a political video that he controlled called Keep Florida Clean?
00:02:32.200 There's no doubt in my mind that he did that.
00:02:35.000 And I believe, again, I'm not a prosecutor, but I believe that he committed money laundering and wire fraud and potentially Medicaid fraud by steering this Medicaid money, $10 million of it, into his own PAC.
00:02:49.900 So what should the money received by Hope Florida, what was it supposed to be used for, or what would have been an appropriate use for it, or should they never have had it at all?
00:03:00.440 They should never have had it at all.
00:03:01.920 This is Medicaid money.
00:03:03.260 It should have gone back to the state for proper accounting so that we can avoid future fines from the federal government and CMS.
00:03:10.560 Unfortunately, the Governor of the Sands' administration is somewhat incompetent in the management of our funds.
00:03:17.180 It's resulted in almost a billion dollars in fines in recent years.
00:03:21.080 And this is just another example of his incompetence as a manager.
00:03:25.260 As I understand it, the Hope Florida operation hasn't filed a number of required disclosures and has not met a number of additional legal requirements.
00:03:40.320 Can you run us through that?
00:03:41.240 So the Hope Florida Foundation, they're a 501c3 charity, so they're supposed to file reports with the IRS called 990s showing their income and expenses, and they're supposed to provide documents about conflicts of interest with board members, their policies on how they award grants.
00:03:59.940 They're supposed to keep minutes of their meetings, and they're supposed to comply with Florida sunshine laws related to their meetings, and they haven't done any of that.
00:04:08.080 They haven't even reported their financial assets to the state, and they're technically an arm of the state.
00:04:15.880 They're a DSO, a direct support organization, for a Florida agency called the Department of Children and Families.
00:04:24.920 The whole thing is really kind of shocking.
00:04:27.280 During a speech yesterday, a dissentist was adamant that his wife was responsible for Hope Florida, said he had no ownership of it, didn't devise it.
00:04:35.740 He said he set the vision.
00:04:37.000 Do you think the governor is throwing his wife under the bus? 1.00
00:04:41.180 It sure sounded like it.
00:04:43.840 You know, I don't think he likes, you know, being implicated in a money laundering and a wire fraud scheme.
00:04:53.260 But unfortunately, his chief of staff absolutely is.
00:04:58.100 So, no, I'm sure that he's embarrassed.
00:05:00.680 But at the same time, if you know Governor DeSantis, he does not believe the rules apply to him, and this circumstance is no different.
00:05:08.740 He doesn't, he's mad that anyone's questioning this money laundering and wire fraud, and he believes the rules don't apply to him.
00:05:16.820 And unfortunately for him, he's learning the hard way that that's not the case.
00:05:20.920 Yeah, it looks to me like the Hope Florida Foundation dodged legally required audits, financial plans, and ethics close.
00:05:28.120 When you and your colleagues simply ask for records, the first lady and her husband's team have just stonewalled them.
00:05:35.700 State law says that settlement funds should go to a state trust or a general fund for lawmakers to allocate.
00:05:41.980 Instead, the governor and his team diverted a huge chunk of this money to Casey's nonprofit.
00:05:49.160 As I say again, the Hope Florida Foundation hasn't filed required audits, tax returns, or the ethics disclosures.
00:05:56.560 I think this is all about setting up a platform for Casey DeSantis' putative run for governor to keep the DeSantis' in power as some kind of a dynasty.
00:06:08.640 I really think it's interesting that while Governor and Mrs. DeSantis were flying to Washington to meet President Trump to try to persuade him to be neutral in the upcoming contest for governor,
00:06:24.280 President Donald Trump issued a warm and strong endorsement of Naples area Congressman Byron Donalds.
00:06:31.620 If anybody doesn't see everything that's playing out here within the backdrop of this upcoming gubernatorial campaign, I'm not sure they really understand, do they?
00:06:42.200 No, sir, I don't.
00:06:44.200 And in full disclosure, I haven't endorsed Byron Donalds yet.
00:06:48.260 I think that there might be other good candidates.
00:06:50.240 I haven't, you know, it's still almost two years out.
00:06:53.300 I can tell you definitively that Floridians don't like dynasties, and they don't support the idea of Casey DeSantis running for governor, especially as we're seeing all these revelations about the mismanagement, misuse, and misappropriation of funds.
00:07:07.940 You know, I live in Florida, and I find that when I'm critical on social media, because on X, I'm at Roger J. Stone Jr., Roger J. Stone Jr., pretty outspoken.
00:07:20.900 And people tell me that Governor DeSantis is the best governor in the country, is one of the most conservative governors in the country.
00:07:28.400 In all honesty, I then look and I find out that these people don't live in Florida.
00:07:31.720 Since Governor DeSantis took office, homeowner insurance premiums have tripled, averaging $6,000 a year, the highest in the nation.
00:07:41.560 His reforms handed insurers $2 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts while letting the big insurance companies dodge lawsuits.
00:07:50.440 I think this leaves Floridians with soaring rates and no recourse when companies deny their claims.
00:07:56.080 And then under Governor DeSantis, he essentially, because the Public Service Commission is stacked with his loyalists, rubber-stamped the largest single utility rate hike in Florida history, that by Florida Power and Light, increasing our bills by 20 percent.
00:08:16.680 Meanwhile, medium home prices have jumped 65 percent under Governor DeSantis, from $254,000 in 2018 to $420,000 in 2024.
00:08:29.020 His inaction on affordability and his very cozy ties with developers seem to me to prioritize profits over people, and they're pricing out retirees and young Floridians.
00:08:40.260 My daughter is looking for someplace to live, and she's finding the prices.
00:08:44.580 It's impossible to buy, but it's virtually also impossible to rent.
00:08:51.760 And then lastly, I'm particularly unhappy about the way that the governor has gutted our sunshine laws.
00:08:58.540 Florida used to be a state where any taxpayer could, upon filing, find out what any government entity or agency was doing.
00:09:08.920 Today, it is most opaque.
00:09:10.860 They won't even tell us not where the governor's airplane is going to go, but they won't even tell us where it has been, saying that that's a security issue.
00:09:19.380 I kind of doubt that.
00:09:21.960 I'm not sure that those who don't live in Florida can fully understand what's going on here.
00:09:27.680 No, I agree.
00:09:30.960 And again, the whole refusal to comply with the public records laws or the sunshine laws here in Florida, just another instance of Governor DeSantis thinking the rules don't apply to him, and that he gets some kind of special privilege not to follow the same rules regular Floridians have to follow.
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00:10:18.820 You know, he bragged about Florida's freedom from COVID, but then he quietly signed a law which shielded Big Pharma from vaccination lawsuits.
00:10:26.880 So all of his tough talk, in my view, hit a sellout to corporate interests, betraying the folks who trusted him to fight the system.
00:10:35.080 Additionally, I'd say that he signed off on $1.5 billion in new taxes and fees since 2019, including higher vehicle registrations and online sales taxes, hitting small businesses and families.
00:10:49.020 He calls it no new taxes, but Floridians feel a pinch while he takes credit for cuts.
00:10:55.300 His administration also pushed $1.3 billion, the purchase of $1.4 million of conservation acres through the Florida Forever program.
00:11:05.560 But key parcels went to developers who had close ties to the governor or were his donors.
00:11:11.260 It's a bait and switch that I think has betrayed taxpayers and paves over Florida's future.
00:11:17.560 I know that you're not a prosecutor, but you are a respected attorney.
00:11:23.300 With the current Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeyer, being a chief suspect in this case,
00:11:30.800 do you think the U.S. federal attorney should prosecute Uthmeyer or the governor and his wife?
00:11:36.980 I absolutely believe the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida should be investigating this as wire fraud and money laundering.
00:11:44.060 I don't know if they will.
00:11:45.140 Well, that's the question that they have to answer.
00:11:47.660 But from my perspective, based on the information that's public, the information that I'm aware of,
00:11:52.420 I believe that there's no excuse if the U.S. attorney for the Northern District does not investigate this as Medicaid fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
00:12:01.760 I guess time will tell.
00:12:04.180 What are the future in terms of do you expect to have additional hearings?
00:12:07.980 I mean, where does this go next?
00:12:09.340 Yes, sir.
00:12:10.840 No, I plan to have another hearing on Monday where the two dark money groups that funneled this $10 million to James Uthmeyer's PAC have been invited to come and explain themselves.
00:12:22.400 And I've also invited Governor DeSantis' personal attorney, Jeff Aaron, to come and explain himself and his role in this wire fraud and money laundering scheme.
00:12:30.380 Do you think that you have the authority to bring both the governor and his wife and the attorney general in front of your committee?
00:12:41.780 You might have the technical ability.
00:12:44.500 I'm not sure if we'll do that.
00:12:46.820 That would be, again, I'm a subcommittee chairman of a budget committee here in Florida.
00:12:52.960 I don't know necessarily if that's the right venue.
00:12:58.820 At some point, it's got to escalate beyond a subcommittee.
00:13:03.600 And I think if it does escalate beyond a subcommittee, then, yes, those individuals should be invited to come explain themselves.
00:13:10.680 I think it would be only appropriate.
00:13:13.020 It would make for some very epic television.
00:13:16.340 It is amazing yesterday the way that the governor tried to push this again off on his wife.
00:13:25.260 Do you now just get into politics, just straight politics, because that's what we do here in the Stone Zone.
00:13:30.160 Do you think at the end of the day that Casey DeSantis will, in fact, run for governor?
00:13:35.320 I don't know.
00:13:36.520 That's up to her to decide.
00:13:38.880 I don't believe that she'll be able to run on a platform bragging about Hope Florida, given all the revelations we've discovered in the past few weeks.
00:13:45.720 That is certainly true.
00:13:48.240 I am of the opinion that those who believe that Florida is now a reliably red state may be mistaken.
00:13:59.660 It is certainly true that Governor DeSantis carried it by almost 20 points in his last re-election.
00:14:05.780 But I also think that the hurricane was a major factor in that, that it allowed him to dominate all free media for the closing weeks of that campaign.
00:14:14.800 His opponent, former Governor Charlie Crist, you may remember him.
00:14:19.840 He was a Republican, then an Independent, then a Democrat.
00:14:23.460 Reminds me of that old joke, a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent walked into a bar and the bartender said,
00:14:29.260 Hi, Charlie.
00:14:29.860 Anyway, he was counting very heavily on free media coverage since he couldn't raise nearly as much as the DeSantis juggernaut, and he got no coverage.
00:14:42.060 So I think, yes, Governor DeSantis would have won in the off-year election, but not by 20 points.
00:14:48.380 And, of course, Donald Trump is a phenomena unto himself.
00:14:52.080 Nobody else could do what he has done, and he scored very heavily in the Sunshine State, seemingly different than any other Republican.
00:15:03.640 Spent not, for example, a penny on Spanish language radio, which I think has been utilized very, very effectively by Republican candidates here in the Sunshine State.
00:15:13.640 But the Trump campaign did not spend money on that, yet he won very solidly.
00:15:19.280 In fact, Democrat State Chairwoman Nikki Freed is going to be in the Stone Zone tomorrow to talk about this issue, the HOPE issue, and others.
00:15:29.880 She and others of my friends in the other party still believe this is a purple state, that it can go either way.
00:15:37.500 Do you have any thoughts on that?
00:15:40.060 Well, I would push back a little bit.
00:15:44.800 You know, Governor DeSantis was very popular coming out of COVID just because as a state, as a large state, we were better than most of the large states.
00:15:54.480 I don't think Governor DeSantis was perfect on COVID.
00:15:56.680 I recall having to push him, beg and plead for him to open up certain things like vacation rentals back in my home area and Panhandle.
00:16:05.180 You know, so there's been some whitewashing, some astroturfing of his record on COVID.
00:16:10.860 He certainly wasn't perfect, but he enjoyed a lot of popularity from that.
00:16:16.700 The problem for him at this point is you can only get so much bandwidth out of one instance from four or five years ago,
00:16:24.720 and he's been beating that dead horse for years and disregarding kind of a record of failure as a manager of the state.
00:16:34.620 I mean, as the governor, he's the chief executive officer.
00:16:38.000 He's supposed to be managing the executive branch of the state, and he's just terrible at it.
00:16:43.460 All right.
00:16:43.720 We're going to have to leave it there.
00:16:45.480 I want to thank my guest, State Representative Alex Andrade of the 7th, pardon me, the 2nd District of Florida.
00:16:53.640 Thank you very much for joining us today in the Stone Zone.
00:16:57.180 God bless you, my friend, and keep up the good work.
00:16:59.840 Thank you, sir.
00:17:01.080 The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.