The StoneZONE with Roger Stone

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00:00:30.000 The Stone Zone.

00:00:32.480 Entertaining and informative.

00:00:34.660 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:00:37.540 Welcome.

00:00:38.320 You are entering the Stone Zone.

00:00:40.680 Well, New York Attorney General Letitia James has now officially been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for mortgage fraud.

00:00:49.160 That's right.

00:00:49.740 Tish James, who said, most famously, no one is above the law, may be prosecuted herself. 0.73

00:00:57.360 Federal Home Loan Financing Agency Director Bill Pulte sent a criminal referral to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi accusing James of mortgage fraud this past Tuesday.

00:01:09.720 Pulte said that James falsified records to meet certain lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms.

00:01:18.040 Pulte cited a property in Virginia that James claimed as her principal residence and a property in New York, which she claimed as a four-unit investment structure instead of the required five, which she said that she could, which could mean that she was able to get different and more favorable loans.

00:01:39.840 Now, there's a number of problems here.

00:01:43.240 First of all, just weeks before President Donald Trump's so-called valuation trial, James signed a power of attorney in her application for a mortgage on a Virginia home, which she said would become her principal residence.

00:02:02.000 Well, if it became her principal residence within the specified 60 days cited in the document that James signed, she would be constitutionally ineligible to be the attorney general of the state of New York.

00:02:18.680 In fact, I checked state law.

00:02:21.120 In the instance that someone holding statewide office changes their state of residence, the office is automatically vacated.

00:02:29.740 On the other hand, if she did not move to Virginia, as stated, well, then she has committed essentially perjury on this sworn form.

00:02:41.560 Another document shows that a property purchased by James with her father had her actually utilizing her father's balance sheet and his finances to justify the mortgage.

00:02:55.940 But she's listed in the application for the mortgage and in the mortgage with her father as husband and wife.

00:03:04.940 That was in 1983 and 2000.

00:03:07.760 But she is listed correctly on the title as father and daughter.

00:03:13.780 Now, while this was a long time ago, it raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James' representations on mortgage applications, said FHFA Director Pulte in his letter.

00:03:27.980 It's ironic that James is likely to go to jail in part for falsifying business records, the very crime that she falsely accused President Donald Trump of committing.

00:03:38.760 It's also interesting, two other areas.

00:03:44.980 I believe that Attorney General Tisha James has covered up the sexual assault of three different women by her chief of staff.

00:03:54.280 There is one existing lawsuit in that regard.

00:03:58.360 It was filed in 2022.

00:04:00.220 Very recently, an appeals court very quietly let the suit go forward, despite a motion for dismissal by Letitia James, but dropped James from the suit.

00:04:13.880 I think that was, as they say, wrongly decided.

00:04:17.060 I believe it will be appealed.

00:04:18.500 There are at least two other women that I have interviewed who claim, likewise, that they also were sexually assaulted by the Attorney General's chief of staff.

00:04:29.200 They have not yet filed lawsuits.

00:04:32.420 I believe both of them to be credible.

00:04:35.800 Then, on top of that, you have the burgeoning scandal of the fundraising by Letitia James.

00:04:43.400 Letitia James, as a candidate for Attorney General, managed to raise millions of dollars using a Democrat payment processing company called ActBlue. 1.00

00:04:59.200 ActBlue very conveniently allows people to give by credit card, while at the same time turning off the feature in which you check the address of the credit card holder against the card to make sure that it is legitimate.

00:05:18.140 Based on just a cursory sample of her donors, you have a pattern of people who are not of particular means giving dozens of small and medium-sized contributions to Letitia James.

00:05:35.740 When you go and knock on those people's doors and show them a spreadsheet of their donations that they allegedly made, well, at this point, seven out of ten interviewed say they never made any such contributions.

00:05:48.400 In fact, they're unfamiliar with Letitia James or her race.

00:05:52.700 Now, so far, the Attorney General has had no comment on any of this.

00:05:59.380 This morning, when a New York Post reporter attempted to approach her, she was either on the cell phone or was she pretending to be on the cell phone.

00:06:07.860 I kind of like the comment of George Washington University professor, law professor Jonathan Turley yesterday, who says that any response from James regarding these allegations, other than that the documents cited are forgeries, is hard to imagine.

00:06:28.400 How can the woman who says no one is above the law respond to these various allegations, which, as we now believe, were fully investigated by the Federal Home Finance Administration?

00:06:44.680 Letitia James is typical of the corrupt politician in a one-party state who believes that she herself will never be questioned. 1.00

00:06:53.880 I frankly think we haven't heard the end of this, as there will be new revelations about the Attorney General.

00:07:02.500 Once again, she's right when she says no one is above the law.

00:07:06.960 That would include her.

00:07:09.420 Just to be clear, I have been following this issue quite simply because I read a blog called whitecollarfraud.com.

00:07:18.940 Whitecollarfraud.com is published by a man named Sam Antar.

00:07:24.060 He has an interesting history himself.

00:07:26.400 He was once the CFO of a big Northeastern electronics firm that many will be familiar with called Crazy Eddie.

00:07:34.300 By his own admission, he, Sam Antar, was involved in one of the largest security frauds in American history.

00:07:41.940 He went to trial, was convicted, served his time, paid his debt to society.

00:07:47.640 But when he came out, he took his considerable forensic and research skills, and he has used it to uncover corruption by politicians, institutions, and others.

00:08:02.380 It is his website, whitecollarfraud.com, that I learned about the serial mortgage fraud by Letitia James.

00:08:13.760 It's amazing to me that nobody at the New York Post or the New York Times or the New York Daily News or the Chicago Tribune or the L.A. Times or the Associated Press or Bloomberg News, it's right there under your nose.

00:08:27.460 But nobody sought to write any of this to report it, even though Sam Antar on his website links to all of the actual documents.

00:08:37.480 So these are not allegations.

00:08:39.180 These are not fabrications.

00:08:40.800 These are cold, hard facts.

00:08:44.440 But until a letter from the head of the Federal Home Finance Agency to the U.S. Attorney General leaked late yesterday afternoon, no place could you find this in the mainstream press.

00:08:59.020 Amazing.

00:09:00.260 We've been reporting it here in the Stone Zone for several weeks, and we will continue reporting on it as this story develops.

00:09:07.620 In the meantime, there is a burgeoning scandal way south of New York in the state of Florida,

00:09:15.140 where the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald and Politico have revealed that the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis orchestrated a $10 million, shall we say, payment last year to a charity founded by the governor's wife,

00:09:29.280 actually taking that money away from Medicaid, funds that were meant to pay for health care for the poor, the elderly, and those who are disabled were diverted to a dark money fund controlled by Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife.

00:09:49.720 We're going to come back and talk about that, and we're going to interview the chairman of the House Committee in Florida who is investigating that breaking scandal.

00:10:01.040 So if you're interested in politics and you want the stone-cold truth, you're in the right place.

00:10:06.000 This is the Stone Zone on the Red Apple Audio Networks to get all the breaking news and all the dirty details of both of these epic scandals.

00:10:16.020 Don't touch that dial.

00:10:17.580 The Stone Zone on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

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00:10:54.680 The Stone Zone.

00:10:56.380 Entertaining and informative.

00:10:58.380 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:11:01.100 And you're back in the Stone Zone.

00:11:03.380 Now we're looking in the Sunshine State for a burgeoning scandal that threatens not only the governorship of Governor Ron DeSantis, but the putative candidacy of his wife, Casey DeSantis, who the governor has made very clear in recent days, intends to run for governor of the Sunshine State herself.

00:11:23.920 In a nutshell, the DeSantis administration pressured a major state contractor to make a $10 million donation to the Hope Florida Foundation, this extremely controversial charity that is spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis.

00:11:39.980 It was part of a settlement negotiated with the Centene Corporation after the state's largest Medicaid contractor overbilled the state by at least $67 billion.

00:11:50.900 Days later, Hope Florida transferred that $10 million to a pair of dark money nonprofits.

00:11:58.460 The state-backed charity gave $5 million each to Save Our Society from Drugs, an anti-marijuana group founded by a Republican megadonor, and Secure Florida's Future, a political vehicle controlled by executives at the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the big business lobbying group.

00:12:17.000 Then days after that, Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida's Future gave a combined $8.5 million to keep Florida clean, a political committee chaired by Ron DeSantis' then chief of staff, who now most inconveniently, he most recently appointed attorney general of the state of Florida.

00:12:38.260 This was a fund created to oppose Amendment 3, the amendment on last year's ballot that would have allowed Floridians to use marijuana recreationally rather than solely for medicinal reasons that that amendment was defeated.

00:12:55.040 So this was a daisy chain that may have transferred $10 million of public money, money meant to pay for health insurance for the poor, the elderly, and people who are disabled, into funding of an anti-marijuana political campaign.

00:13:13.280 Governor DeSantis, of course, has repeatedly insisted that he did nothing wrong, while at the same time lashing out with an increasingly vitriolic rhetoric at everyone from the Republican Speaker of the State House to the newspaper reporters digging into this story.

00:13:28.500 Listen to Governor DeSantis.

00:13:30.440 These smears against Hope Florida, anybody who's making those smears is not serving you well.

00:13:38.160 That is not something that makes sense when very few examples of government actually succeeding in helping to lift people up.

00:13:47.920 The governor also, let's go to our last cut here, seems to be blaming his wife Casey for all of this.

00:13:54.820 Listen to this.

00:13:56.020 I really had no ownership of this.

00:13:58.500 I didn't devise it.

00:13:59.920 She devised it.

00:14:01.340 She set the vision.

00:14:03.480 She executed the vision.

00:14:05.540 Wow.

00:14:06.960 Incredible.

00:14:08.160 At least one prominent Republican lawmaker, Representative Alex Andrate, a Pensacola Republican, has been presiding over hearings in To Hope, Florida.

00:14:20.140 He told both the Miami Herald and the Tampa Times that the transaction chain, quote, looks like criminal fraud by some of those involved.

00:14:29.300 Clearly, this all looks very bad, but it's not an isolated incident.

00:14:34.380 In fact, it's part of a larger pattern of potential abuses that Ron DeSantis has committed beginning last fall when he chose to turn the power of state government against two citizen-led constitutional amendments, which appeared on the November ballot.

00:14:50.320 Those would be amendments three and four.

00:14:52.460 It is amazing that the governor seeks to distract from his own culpability here, but more importantly, from the actions of his now attorney general.

00:15:05.720 Again, the governor is furious that Republicans in the state legislature are asking serious questions about a charity closely aligned with his own wife, who he's made pretty clear he intends to succeed him as governor.

00:15:19.100 I haven't heard of anything like that since Lurleen Wallace succeeded her husband, George Wallace, as the governor of Alabama when Governor Wallace was term limited.

00:15:30.000 Yesterday, DeSantis attacked State Representative Alex Andrade for daring to hold a hearing on the charity in question, Hope, Florida, and its movement of money into political advertisements.

00:15:44.840 Speaking in front of Hope, Florida, the governor, as you heard, said anybody who asks questions is not serving you well.

00:15:52.400 Now, this scandal is essentially trying to cover up $10 million that Centene, a Medicaid-managed care provider, was supposed to pay to the state of Florida.

00:16:03.980 Instead, again, Centene was directed by the state to send $10 million to the first lady's pet project.

00:16:10.580 It's called Hope, Florida.

00:16:11.860 We know this because Centene told OAN's Matt Gaetz that they were directed by the Agency for Healthcare Administration to do so.

00:16:20.840 So, where did all that money go?

00:16:24.480 Now, many are horrified that it wound up in the possession of a political committee controlled by James Uthmeyer, the former chief of staff to Governor DeSantis, who has since been appointed Florida Attorney General.

00:16:38.880 The money, as I say, was then used for political ads when its intended purpose was to help poor people get health care.

00:16:45.860 The volunteer president of Hope, Florida, a gentleman named Joshua Hay, stated in a hearing to Representative Andrade that he had no idea how the money was going to use, and he had no idea how the money was used.

00:17:02.180 Hay works for a corporation that receives millions in Florida state contracts.

00:17:06.200 Turns out that then DeSantis Chief of Staff, Uthmeyer, directed Hope, Florida to give that $5 million to these various dark political committees.

00:17:16.980 Joining us next is the chairman of the Health House Care Budget Subcommittee that is investigating this scandal.

00:17:26.520 We'll be joined by Alex Andrade, and we'll get the answers directly from him.

00:17:31.780 So if you're looking for the inside skinny on this burgeoning scandal right here in the Sunshine State, and whether it threatens the political future of not just First Lady Casey DeSantis, but also Governor Ron DeSantis, who still sees himself, strangely enough, as a 2028 presidential candidate, despite the fact that he did not willingly campaign for President Donald Trump.

00:17:56.160 And you want to hear more, well, whatever you do, don't touch that dial, you'll be right back in the Stone Zone, and we will bring you the Stone Cold Truth.

00:18:04.600 The Stone Zone, on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:18:10.520 The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative.

00:18:14.480 On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:18:16.400 And we're back in the Stone Zone.

00:18:19.760 Joining us now is the chairman of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee in Florida.

00:18:25.260 State Representative Alex Andrade has served in the legislature for seven years.

00:18:32.120 He is an accomplished and respected attorney in his hometown of Pensacola.

00:18:36.440 He passed the bill to ban forced vaccinations in Florida.

00:18:40.440 He passed the bill banning DEI and higher education in Florida.

00:18:44.700 He also passed the bill removing all of Disney's carve-outs and sweetheart deals.

00:18:51.940 Alex, welcome to the Stone Zone.

00:18:55.140 Good afternoon.

00:18:55.820 Thanks for having me, Roger.

00:18:57.020 I watched you yesterday on Matt Gaetz's show on OAN.

00:19:01.820 I thought it was an excellent presentation.

00:19:04.420 I learned a lot more about this burgeoning scandal.

00:19:07.920 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,

00:19:17.860 the governor was in your home district attacking you and insisting that there's nothing to see here.

00:19:24.000 Your reaction?

00:19:26.280 Well, you know, I'm always glad when the governor visits my hometown.

00:19:29.480 I'm proud to represent it in the Florida House.

00:19:31.640 Unfortunately, it wasn't Governor DeSantis' best press conference.

00:19:36.460 He came off a little manic.

00:19:38.180 He came off very emotional.

00:19:40.560 And it's all in response to simple questions we're asking about how much he knew,

00:19:46.460 how much Attorney General James Uthmeyer knew,

00:19:49.360 when James Uthmeyer steered $10 million of Medicaid money into his own PAC.

00:19:53.640 Yeah, I mean, is there any doubt in your mind that the former DeSantis chief of staff

00:20:02.440 and now attorney general of the state of Florida illegally transferred these funds from Hope Florida

00:20:06.780 into a political video that he controlled called Keep Florida Clean?

00:20:12.020 There's no doubt in my mind that he did that.

00:20:15.680 I believe, again, I'm not a prosecutor,

00:20:18.040 but I believe that he committed money laundering and wire fraud and potentially Medicaid fraud

00:20:23.960 by steering this Medicaid money, $10 million of it, into his own PAC.

00:20:29.760 So what should the money received by Hope Florida, what was it supposed to be used for,

00:20:34.780 or what would have been an appropriate use for it, or should they never have had it at all?

00:20:40.300 They should never have had it at all.

00:20:42.000 This is Medicaid money.

00:20:43.120 It should have gone back to the state for proper accounting

00:20:45.500 so that we can avoid future fines from the federal government and CMS.

00:20:50.420 Unfortunately, the governor understands his administration

00:20:53.160 is somewhat incompetent in the management of our funds.

00:20:57.040 It's resulted in almost a billion dollars in fines in recent years,

00:21:00.640 and this is just another example of his incompetence as a manager.

00:21:06.280 As I understand it, the Hope Florida operation

00:21:11.600 hasn't filed a number of required disclosures

00:21:15.920 and has not met a number of additional legal requirements.

00:21:20.180 Can you run us through that?

00:21:22.600 Yes, sir.

00:21:23.320 So the Hope Florida Foundation, they're a 501c3 charity,

00:21:27.020 so they're supposed to file reports with the IRS called 990s

00:21:31.020 showing their income and expenses,

00:21:32.540 and they're supposed to provide documents about conflicts of interest with board members,

00:21:37.680 their policies on how they award grants.

00:21:40.640 They're supposed to keep minutes of their meetings.

00:21:42.760 They're supposed to comply with Florida sunshine laws related to their meetings,

00:21:46.000 and they haven't done any of that.

00:21:48.240 They haven't even reported their financial assets to the state,

00:21:52.280 and they're technically an arm of the state.

00:21:55.740 They're a DSO, a direct support organization,

00:21:58.360 for a Florida agency called the Department of Children and Families.

00:22:01.360 The whole thing is really kind of shocking.

00:22:07.140 During a speech yesterday,

00:22:08.580 a dissentist was adamant that his wife was responsible for Hope Florida,

00:22:13.040 said he had no ownership of it, didn't devise it.

00:22:15.660 She set the vision.

00:22:16.920 Do you think the governor is throwing his wife under the bus? 1.00

00:22:21.020 It sure sounded like it.

00:22:22.580 You know, I don't think he likes, you know,

00:22:27.080 being implicated in a money laundering and a wire fraud scheme.

00:22:33.140 But unfortunately, his chief of staff absolutely is.

00:22:37.940 So, no, I'm sure that he's embarrassed.

00:22:41.220 But at the same time, if you know Governor DeSantis,

00:22:43.780 he does not believe the rules apply to him,

00:22:45.860 and this circumstance is no different.

00:22:47.800 He doesn't, he's mad that anyone's questioning this money laundering and wire fraud,

00:22:54.060 and he believes the rules don't apply to him.

00:22:56.680 And unfortunately for him, he's learning the hard way that that's not the case.

00:23:01.360 Yeah, it looks to me like the Hope Florida Foundation dodged

00:23:04.300 legally required audits, financial plans, and ethics close.

00:23:07.980 When you and your colleagues simply ask for records,

00:23:11.220 the first lady and her husband's team have just stonewalled them.

00:23:14.880 State law says that settlement funds should go to a state trust or a general fund

00:23:19.460 for lawmakers to allocate.

00:23:22.040 Instead, the governor and his team diverted a huge chunk of this money to Casey's nonprofit.

00:23:29.020 As I say again, the Hope Florida Foundation hasn't filed required audits,

00:23:33.340 tax returns, or the ethics disclosures.

00:23:36.420 I think this is all about setting up a platform

00:23:40.240 for Casey DeSantis' putative run for governor

00:23:44.180 to keep the DeSantis' in power as some kind of a dynasty.

00:23:49.500 I really think it's interesting that while Governor and Mrs. DeSantis

00:23:55.800 were flying to Washington to meet President Trump

00:23:58.480 to try to persuade him to be neutral in the upcoming contest for governor,

00:24:03.060 President Donald Trump issued a warm and strong endorsement

00:24:07.840 of Naples-area Congressman Byron Donalds.

00:24:11.600 If anybody doesn't see everything that's playing out here

00:24:14.200 within the backdrop of this upcoming gubernatorial campaign,

00:24:18.360 I'm not sure they really understand, do they?

00:24:22.060 No, sir. I don't.

00:24:24.040 And in full disclosure, I haven't endorsed Byron Donalds yet.

00:24:28.120 I think that there might be other good candidates.

00:24:29.880 I haven't, you know, it's still almost two years out.

00:24:33.360 I can tell you definitively that Floridians don't like dynasties

00:24:37.340 and they don't support the idea of Casey DeSantis running for governor,

00:24:41.340 especially as we're seeing all these revelations

00:24:43.720 about the mismanagement, misuse, and misappropriation of funds.

00:24:48.940 You know, I live in Florida,

00:24:50.880 and I find that when I'm critical on social media,

00:24:54.900 because on X, I'm at Roger J. Stone Jr.,

00:24:57.740 Roger J. Stone Jr., pretty outspoken.

00:25:00.800 People tell me that Governor DeSantis

00:25:03.160 is the best governor in the country,

00:25:04.880 is one of the most conservative governors in the country.

00:25:08.260 In all honesty, I then look and I find out

00:25:10.000 that these people don't live in Florida.

00:25:12.320 Since Governor DeSantis took office,

00:25:14.180 homeowner insurance premiums have tripled,

00:25:17.600 averaging $6,000 a year, the highest in the nation.

00:25:20.860 His reforms handed insurers $2 billion

00:25:24.820 in taxpayer-funded bailouts

00:25:26.760 while letting the big insurance companies dodge lawsuits.

00:25:30.320 I think this leaves Floridians with soaring rates

00:25:32.740 and no recourse when companies deny their claims.

00:25:36.560 And then under Governor DeSantis,

00:25:39.460 he essentially,

00:25:40.720 because the Public Service Commission is stacked with his loyalists,

00:25:44.720 rubber-stamped the largest single utility rate hike

00:25:49.140 in Florida history,

00:25:50.860 that by Florida Power and Light,

00:25:53.200 increasing our bills by 20%.

00:25:56.600 Meanwhile, medium home prices have jumped 65%

00:26:00.120 under Governor DeSantis,

00:26:01.480 from $254,000 in 2018 to $420,000 in 2024.

00:26:08.580 His inaction on affordability

00:26:10.760 and his very cozy ties with developers

00:26:13.100 seem to me to prioritize profits over people,

00:26:16.460 and they're pricing out retirees and young Floridians.

00:26:20.280 My daughter is looking for some place to live, 0.98

00:26:23.220 and she's finding the prices.

00:26:24.940 It's impossible to buy,

00:26:26.600 but it's virtually also impossible to rent.

00:26:31.620 And then lastly,

00:26:33.060 I'm particularly unhappy about the way

00:26:34.820 that the governor has gutted our sunshine laws.

00:26:38.400 Florida used to be a state

00:26:39.520 where any taxpayer could, upon filing,

00:26:42.860 find out what any government entity or agency was doing.

00:26:48.840 Today, it is most opaque.

00:26:50.860 They won't even tell us

00:26:51.740 not where the governor's airplane is going to go,

00:26:54.900 but they won't even tell us where it has been,

00:26:57.060 saying that that's a security issue.

00:26:59.360 I kind of doubt that.

00:27:01.780 I'm not sure that those who don't live in Florida

00:27:05.500 can fully understand what's going on here.

00:27:07.540 No, I agree.

00:27:10.820 And again, the whole refusal to comply

00:27:13.900 with the public records laws

00:27:15.160 or the sunshine laws here in Florida,

00:27:17.160 just another instance of Governor DeSantis

00:27:18.820 thinking that the rules don't apply to him

00:27:21.280 and that he gets some kind of special privilege

00:27:23.540 not to follow the same rules

00:27:24.920 regular Floridians have to follow.

00:27:28.580 You know, he bragged about Florida's freedom from COVID,

00:27:31.480 but then he quietly signed a law

00:27:33.040 which shielded Big Pharma from vaccination lawsuits.

00:27:36.000 So all of his tough talk, in my view,

00:27:38.660 hit a sellout to corporate interest,

00:27:40.940 betraying the folks who trusted him to fight the system.

00:27:45.380 Additionally, I'd say that he signed off

00:27:47.180 on $1.5 billion in new taxes and fees since 2019,

00:27:51.940 including higher vehicle registrations

00:27:54.160 and online sales taxes,

00:27:56.440 hitting small businesses and families.

00:27:58.780 He calls it no new taxes,

00:28:00.640 but Floridians feel a pinch

00:28:02.420 while he takes credit for cuts.

00:28:05.020 His administration also pushed $1.3 billion,

00:28:09.200 the purchase of 1.4 millions of conservation acres

00:28:13.140 through the Florida Forever program,

00:28:15.280 but key parcels went to developers

00:28:17.440 who had close ties to the governor

00:28:19.840 or were his donors.

00:28:21.000 It's a bait and switch that I think

00:28:22.620 has betrayed taxpayers

00:28:24.300 and paves over Florida's future.

00:28:27.960 I know that you're not a prosecutor,

00:28:29.780 but you are a respected attorney.

00:28:33.020 With the current Attorney General of Florida,

00:28:36.060 James Uthmeyer,

00:28:37.500 being a chief suspect in this case,

00:28:40.540 do you think the U.S. federal attorney

00:28:41.880 should prosecute Uthmeyer

00:28:43.960 or the governor and his wife?

00:28:46.720 I absolutely believe

00:28:47.960 the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida

00:28:49.980 should be investigating this as wire fraud

00:28:52.260 and money laundering.

00:28:53.320 I don't know if they will.

00:28:55.180 That's the question that they have to answer.

00:28:57.380 But from my perspective,

00:28:58.840 based on the information that's public,

00:29:00.380 the information that I'm aware of,

00:29:02.160 I believe that there's no excuse

00:29:03.560 if the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District

00:29:05.140 does not investigate this

00:29:06.960 as Medicaid fraud, wire fraud,

00:29:09.740 and money laundering.

00:29:10.640 I guess time will tell.

00:29:13.880 What are the future in terms,

00:29:15.600 do you expect to have additional hearings?

00:29:17.740 I mean, where does this go next?

00:29:20.100 Yes, sir.

00:29:20.580 No, I plan to have another hearing on Monday

00:29:23.020 where the two dark money groups

00:29:25.200 that funneled this $10 million

00:29:27.560 to James Uthmeyer's PAC

00:29:29.580 have been invited to come and explain themselves.

00:29:31.960 And I've also invited

00:29:33.240 Governor DeSantis' personal attorney,

00:29:35.260 Jeff Aaron,

00:29:35.840 to come and explain himself

00:29:36.940 and his role

00:29:37.640 in this wire fraud

00:29:39.080 and money laundering scheme.

00:29:40.640 Do you think that you have the authority

00:29:44.440 to bring both the governor

00:29:46.800 and his wife

00:29:47.660 and the attorney general

00:29:48.600 in front of your committee?

00:29:51.480 You might have the technical ability.

00:29:54.240 I'm not sure if we'll do that.

00:29:56.560 That would be, again,

00:29:58.560 I'm a subcommittee chairman

00:29:59.940 of a budget committee here in Florida.

00:30:03.020 I don't know necessarily

00:30:05.160 if that's the right venue.

00:30:08.580 At some point,

00:30:09.320 it's got to escalate

00:30:11.060 beyond a subcommittee.

00:30:13.360 And I think if it does escalate

00:30:15.180 beyond a subcommittee,

00:30:16.340 then yes,

00:30:17.480 those individuals should be invited

00:30:18.860 to come explain themselves.

00:30:20.000 I think it would be only appropriate.

00:30:22.520 It would make for some very epic television.

00:30:27.600 It is amazing yesterday

00:30:31.000 the way that the governor

00:30:32.700 tried to push this again

00:30:33.760 off on his wife.

00:30:35.000 Do you now just get into politics,

00:30:36.860 just straight politics,

00:30:37.900 because that's what we do here

00:30:38.800 in the Stone Zone.

00:30:39.900 Do you think at the end of the day

00:30:41.180 that Casey DeSantis

00:30:42.000 will in fact run for governor?

00:30:43.400 I don't know.

00:30:46.080 That's up to her to decide.

00:30:48.500 I don't believe that she'll be able

00:30:50.340 to run on a platform

00:30:51.400 bragging about Hope Florida,

00:30:52.980 given all the revelations

00:30:53.960 we've discovered

00:30:54.540 in the past few weeks.

00:30:55.800 That is certainly true.

00:30:58.100 I am of the opinion

00:30:59.860 that those who believe

00:31:02.660 that Florida

00:31:03.580 is now a reliably red state

00:31:07.560 may be mistaken.

00:31:08.860 It is certainly true 0.95

00:31:10.520 that Governor DeSantis

00:31:12.080 carried it by almost 20 points

00:31:14.340 in his last re-election,

00:31:15.520 but I also think

00:31:16.200 that the hurricane

00:31:17.320 was a major factor in that,

00:31:19.100 that it allowed him

00:31:20.020 to dominate all free media

00:31:22.320 for the closing weeks

00:31:23.660 of that campaign.

00:31:24.780 His opponent,

00:31:26.140 former Governor Charlie Crist,

00:31:28.220 you may remember him.

00:31:29.560 He was a Republican,

00:31:30.580 then an Independent,

00:31:31.620 then a Democrat.

00:31:33.200 Reminds me of that old joke,

00:31:34.800 a Republican, a Democrat,

00:31:36.000 an Independent walked into a bar

00:31:37.500 and the bartender said,

00:31:38.860 Hi, Charlie.

00:31:40.080 Anyway, he was counting

00:31:43.180 very heavily on free media coverage

00:31:45.720 since he couldn't raise

00:31:46.840 nearly as much

00:31:47.660 as the DeSantis juggernaut,

00:31:49.920 and he got no coverage.

00:31:51.780 So I think, yes,

00:31:53.040 Governor DeSantis would have won

00:31:54.540 in the off-year election,

00:31:56.260 but not by 20 points.

00:31:58.120 And of course,

00:31:58.900 Donald Trump is a phenomena

00:32:00.360 unto himself.

00:32:02.380 Nobody else could do

00:32:03.880 what he has done.

00:32:06.260 And he scored very heavily

00:32:08.260 in the Sunshine State,

00:32:10.480 seemingly different

00:32:12.220 than any other Republican.

00:32:13.400 Spent not, for example,

00:32:14.600 a penny on Spanish language radio,

00:32:17.520 which I think has been utilized

00:32:19.740 very, very effectively

00:32:21.140 by Republican candidates

00:32:22.300 here in the Sunshine State.

00:32:23.500 But the Trump campaign

00:32:24.780 did not spend money on that,

00:32:26.240 yet he won very solidly.

00:32:28.420 In fact,

00:32:29.980 Democrat State Chairwoman

00:32:32.940 Nikki Freed

00:32:33.820 is going to be

00:32:34.340 in the Stone Zone tomorrow

00:32:35.520 to talk about this issue,

00:32:37.340 the HOPE issue,

00:32:38.440 and others.

00:32:39.580 She and others 0.66

00:32:40.860 of my friends

00:32:41.880 in the other party

00:32:42.720 still believe

00:32:43.460 this is a purple state,

00:32:45.340 that it can go either way.

00:32:47.360 You have any thoughts on that?

00:32:48.640 Well, I would push back

00:32:52.760 a little bit.

00:32:54.480 You know,

00:32:55.160 Governor DeSantis

00:32:56.140 was very popular

00:32:57.920 coming out of COVID

00:32:59.000 just because as a state,

00:33:00.740 as a large state,

00:33:02.040 we were better

00:33:02.780 than most of the large states.

00:33:04.200 I don't think Governor DeSantis

00:33:05.080 was perfect on COVID.

00:33:06.360 I recall having to push him,

00:33:08.500 beg and plead

00:33:09.200 for him to open up

00:33:10.660 certain things

00:33:11.720 like vacation rentals

00:33:12.900 back in my home area

00:33:14.120 and Panhandle.

00:33:14.920 You know,

00:33:16.500 so there's been

00:33:16.980 some whitewashing,

00:33:18.060 some astroturfing

00:33:19.280 of his record on COVID.

00:33:20.600 He certainly wasn't perfect,

00:33:22.080 but he enjoyed

00:33:24.280 a lot of popularity

00:33:25.080 from that.

00:33:26.460 The problem for him

00:33:28.380 at this point

00:33:29.360 is you can only get

00:33:30.380 so much bandwidth

00:33:31.340 out of one instance

00:33:32.940 from four or five years ago,

00:33:34.460 and he's been beating

00:33:35.920 that dead horse for years

00:33:37.640 and disregarding

00:33:40.320 kind of a record of failure

00:33:42.380 as a manager of the state.

00:33:44.360 I mean, as the governor,

00:33:46.380 he's the chief executive officer.

00:33:47.740 He's supposed to be managing

00:33:49.120 the executive branch

00:33:50.460 of the state,

00:33:51.100 and he's just terrible at it.

00:33:53.200 All right.

00:33:53.460 We're going to have

00:33:54.220 to leave it there.

00:33:55.260 I want to thank my guest,

00:33:56.840 State Representative Alex Andrade

00:33:58.960 of the 7th,

00:34:00.820 pardon me,

00:34:01.140 the 2nd District of Florida.

00:34:03.380 Thank you very much

00:34:04.140 for joining us today

00:34:05.260 in the Stone Zone.

00:34:06.900 God bless you, my friend,

00:34:08.160 and keep up the good work.

00:34:10.420 Thank you, sir.

00:34:11.420 The Stone Zone

00:34:12.500 on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:34:17.320 The Stone Zone,

00:34:19.200 entertaining and informative

00:34:21.020 on the Red Apple Podcast Network.

00:34:24.260 And you're back

00:34:25.340 in the Stone Zone.

00:34:26.880 President Donald Trump

00:34:27.980 yesterday signed an order

00:34:29.420 aimed at stopping

00:34:30.480 illegal immigrants

00:34:31.460 from obtaining benefits

00:34:32.860 under the Social Security Act

00:34:35.120 and expanding fraud investigations.

00:34:37.380 This move bolsters

00:34:39.460 Elon Musk's

00:34:40.500 Doge-related efforts 1.00

00:34:42.020 to eliminate

00:34:42.800 Social Security fraud.

00:34:45.600 ICE is now also

00:34:47.200 using Social Security records

00:34:48.600 to aid the president's push

00:34:49.980 to deport illegal immigrants. 0.59

00:34:52.720 Meanwhile,

00:34:53.520 Border Czar Tom Homan

00:34:54.920 said yesterday

00:34:55.720 that criminal charges

00:34:57.220 are coming

00:34:57.980 for sanctuary state

00:34:59.580 and city leaders

00:35:00.600 that facilitate

00:35:02.040 the illegal entry

00:35:03.400 and harboring

00:35:04.360 of illegal aliens.

00:35:05.500 This is a message

00:35:07.220 that was echoed

00:35:08.160 by the new

00:35:09.160 California U.S. Attorney

00:35:11.420 Bill Assaylee.

00:35:13.720 Trump has also

00:35:15.020 signed an order

00:35:15.780 authorizing the military

00:35:17.720 to take control

00:35:18.960 of public lands

00:35:20.160 along our southern border

00:35:21.940 in an area

00:35:22.860 known as

00:35:23.440 the Roosevelt Reservation,

00:35:26.080 named for

00:35:26.980 President Teddy Roosevelt.

00:35:29.100 This secures

00:35:30.240 a portion

00:35:30.920 of the southern border.

00:35:32.360 This strip of land

00:35:33.920 is a 60-foot-wide swath

00:35:36.320 that stretches

00:35:37.200 from California

00:35:38.020 all the way

00:35:38.480 to New Mexico.

00:35:39.520 It was set up

00:35:40.600 in 1905

00:35:42.320 as a way

00:35:43.600 to secure

00:35:44.780 our southern border.

00:35:46.720 Meanwhile,

00:35:47.360 I had hoped

00:35:47.780 we would never

00:35:48.320 have to hear

00:35:48.940 from again,

00:35:49.880 but Sleepy Joe

00:35:51.060 was back

00:35:52.300 in the news.

00:35:53.140 Former President

00:35:53.740 Joe Biden

00:35:54.460 blundering his way

00:35:56.100 through a speech

00:35:56.680 again yesterday

00:35:57.480 referring to

00:35:58.720 black kids

00:35:59.820 as colored kids

00:36:01.680 Tuesday

00:36:02.180 during his first

00:36:03.560 public speech

00:36:04.240 since leaving office.

00:36:05.980 Biden was aimlessly

00:36:07.600 telling a story

00:36:08.400 about his childhood

00:36:09.260 move from Scranton,

00:36:10.340 Pennsylvania

00:36:10.760 to Wilmington,

00:36:11.600 Delaware,

00:36:12.400 in which he noted

00:36:13.140 that before his family

00:36:14.520 relocated,

00:36:15.960 he'd never hardly

00:36:17.140 seen any black people.

00:36:19.060 I was only going

00:36:20.180 in the fourth grade,

00:36:21.220 he said,

00:36:21.600 and I remember

00:36:22.200 seeing kids go by

00:36:23.480 at the time

00:36:25.240 we called them

00:36:25.880 colored kids

00:36:26.620 on a bus

00:36:27.340 go by

00:36:28.360 and they never

00:36:29.180 turned right

00:36:29.780 to go to

00:36:30.180 Claymont High School.

00:36:32.060 Biden refused

00:36:33.120 to refer to

00:36:33.760 President Trump

00:36:34.420 by name

00:36:34.940 during his

00:36:35.500 roughly 30-minute

00:36:37.220 speech.

00:36:38.480 When he wrapped

00:36:39.140 up his remarks,

00:36:40.080 a wide-eyed

00:36:40.680 Biden stood

00:36:41.780 at the podium

00:36:42.340 and looked at

00:36:42.780 both ends

00:36:43.220 of the stage

00:36:43.640 before identifying

00:36:44.980 the stairs

00:36:45.840 and pointing at them

00:36:47.300 and then somebody

00:36:48.120 gave him the signal

00:36:49.500 and he finally

00:36:50.200 made his exit.

00:36:52.300 Notably,

00:36:53.200 in his speech,

00:36:54.440 the former president

00:36:55.360 noted the enormous

00:36:56.800 damage Donald Trump

00:36:58.380 has done to the

00:36:59.620 country in less

00:37:00.540 than 100 days.

00:37:02.160 The damage he's done.

00:37:03.460 In truth,

00:37:04.380 Donald Trump is

00:37:05.020 embarking on a new

00:37:06.060 golden age for America,

00:37:08.060 an unprecedented age

00:37:09.420 of peace,

00:37:10.380 prosperity,

00:37:11.260 security,

00:37:12.120 justice,

00:37:12.780 and law and order.

00:37:14.920 All we have to do,

00:37:16.020 folks,

00:37:16.320 is stay the course.

00:37:17.660 Don't be a panicking.

00:37:19.660 Stay to the plan

00:37:20.600 of lowering

00:37:22.060 the level playing field

00:37:24.660 when it comes to trade

00:37:25.760 by using tariffs

00:37:27.940 as a cudgel

00:37:29.060 to force other countries 0.96

00:37:30.720 to fair trade

00:37:31.840 with us,

00:37:32.940 continuing

00:37:33.500 and renewing

00:37:35.020 the Trump tax cuts

00:37:36.340 that are across the board

00:37:37.520 by next January,

00:37:38.940 and enacting spending

00:37:40.520 and regulatory reforms.

00:37:42.840 America's greatest days

00:37:44.640 lie ahead.

00:37:46.200 Thanks for joining us today

00:37:47.420 in the Stone Zone.

00:37:48.360 Until we meet again,

00:37:49.580 God bless you

00:37:50.380 and Godspeed.

00:37:51.720 Thanks for listening

00:37:53.060 to the Stone Zone

00:37:54.340 with Roger Stone.

00:37:55.900 You can hear

00:37:56.560 the Stone Zone

00:37:57.400 with Roger Stone

00:37:58.480 weeknights at 8

00:37:59.760 on 77 WABC.

00:38:02.160 If you like the podcast,

00:38:03.760 share it with your friends

00:38:04.820 and listen anytime

00:38:05.940 at WABCradio.com

00:38:08.080 and download

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00:38:10.740 Hit that subscribe button

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00:38:14.200 Plus,

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00:38:20.040 See you next time

00:38:20.820 for a new episode

00:38:21.800 so you never have to wonder.

00:38:23.800 What the heck

00:38:24.540 is going on here?

00:38:25.620 What the heck

00:38:25.720 is going on here?

The Stone Zone ｜ 04-16-25

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