New court records shed light on the governor’s threats to TV stations for airing pro-choice political advertisements.
Alanna Vagianos at HuffPost:
The general counsel for Florida’s Department of Health, John Wilson, resigned earlier this month — and new court records show it was because he was uncomfortable sending threats on behalf of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to TV stations for airing pro-choice political advertisements. A sworn affidavit from Wilson revealed on Monday that DeSantis deputies personally wrote the threats to news channels and directed Wilson to send them out under his name. Wilson said he received the drafted cease-and-desist letters the morning of Oct. 3, 2024, and that he signed and sent them out later that day. “I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to October 3, 2024,” Wilson wrote. He resigned a week later “in lieu of complying with directives from [DeSantis’ attorneys] to send out further correspondence to the media outlets, similar to the October 3, 2024, letters,” he wrote in the affidavit. Wilson wrote that DeSantis’ general counsel and deputy general counsel directed him to send the letters in his name. (Scroll all the way down to read Wilson’s full affidavit.)
Wilson hinted when he resigned that the threats to TV stations were part of his decision. “A man is nothing without his conscience. It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before this Agency,” he wrote in his resignation letter. Wilson’s statement is the first evidence that directly links DeSantis’ office to the attacks on the state’s pro-choice ballot initiative. The administration has been using taxpayer dollars to wage an all-out war against the state’s pro-choice measure, and state officials have spread misinformation about Amendment 4, which would repeal the governor’s six-week abortion ban and restore access to fetal viability. Until this point, however, the attacks have been made through DeSantis surrogates, many appointed as top administration officials. “These current stories all look past the core issue — the ads are unequivocally false and put the lives and health of pregnant women at risk — Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking,” Julia Friedland, deputy press secretary for DeSantis, told HuffPost.
The cease-and-desist letter Wilson signed and sent to multiple local news channels threatened to bring criminal charges against outlets that aired an ad in support of the abortion rights measure. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the amendment, sued the Health Department in response, naming Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general and head of the department, as well as Wilson.
According to former Florida Department of Health General Counsel John Wilson, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his deputies were behind the threats to TV stations that aired a pro-Amendment 4 ad. Wilson resigned over DeSantis’s intimidation tactics.
