Late Tuesday, Tallahassee, FL Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Sunshine State’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, released receipts for travel he made to New York City and Costa Rica tied to an FBI investigation into corruption in his city.
The problem, however, was the offerings from the Gillum campaign were incomplete. The receipts for the trips, which are also under investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics, were partially redacted.
Omitted from the trove released by Gillum’s campaign were payments for the hotel, a boat ride he took to the Statue of Liberty, his flight and tickets for the Broadway musical “Hamilton.”
According to reporting from the Tallahassee Democrats’ Jeff Burlew and Jeffrey Schweers, the trip included embattled Tallahassee lobbyist Adam Corey and two undercover FBI agents.
(See documents here courtesy of the Democrat)
Documents were released on Gillum’s campaign website for the New York City and Costa Rica trips, but the Costa Rica receipts have since been deleted, and that has raised questions as to why.
Chris Kise, an attorney for Corey, who Gillum has described as his “former friend,” disputed Gillum’s claim that he paid for the trip according to the Associated Press’ Gary Fineout.
Christopher Kise, an attorney representing Adam Corey, former friend of @AndrewGillum, is disputing the Gillum campaign assertions about the Costa Rica and NY trips. Says Corey to date has not received any cash for the Costa Rica accommodations that Gillum stayed at in 2016
— Gary Fineout (@fineout) September 5, 2018
The campaign for Gillum’s Republican gubernatorial opponent Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) responded to the release with a statement late Tuesday questioning if that release was sufficient and called on Gillum to provide more answers.
“It becomes clearer by the day why the FBI is interested in Andrew Gillum and his associates,” Stephen Lawson, communications director for DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign, said in a statement released late Tuesday. “These receipts do nothing to shed light on his luxury trips to Costa Rica and New York City with lobbyists and undercover FBI agents. In fact, they simply raise more questions about Gillum’s ongoing involvement. The people of Florida deserve answers, and Andrew Gillum keeps refusing to provide them.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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