Thread by @KevinCate

Been waiting more than three years for this to drop. Looks like we may finally find out where Ron DeSantis got the foreign money he used against @AndrewGillum in 2018.

Russian oligarch Andrey Muraviev.

The day after the election, the Russian Oligarch, allegedly, was most thrilled about the "victory in Florida." And was ready for his kickback.

justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/r…

Here is the donation still listed on DeSantis' political committee page. DeSantis was apparently an early and easy target, as this indictment says the foreign national donor scheme started "in or about June 2018."

friendsofrondesantis.com/wp-content/upl…

As a reminder, DeSantis' spokesperson at the time of the initial reports said DeSantis didn't know them.

"Nor does he have a relationship with these individuals,” she said before many, many photos and some fundraising invites surfaced.

floridadems.org/2019/10/22/tim…

Five days before the election in 2018, one of these gentlemen, @levparnas, actually stood DeSantis up for lunch. Lunch. Five days before an election.

orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne…

DeSantis doesn't like answering questions about this, but luckily for him, reporters stopped asking him about it a long, long time ago. And nobody ever investigated it.

I'll show you the last time he was asked in the next tweet.

orlandoweekly.com/orlando/florid…

Watch DeSantis laugh nervously when @fineout asks about what he was texting @levparnas, who DeSantis once denied knowing well, until many photos & the inaugural VIP treatment proved otherwise.

I believe this, 1/14/20, was the last time he's been asked.

In conclusion, DeSantis has faced zero consequences — not even an ethics complaint— for taking this money, lying about his relationship, hiding his texts, etc. It's an indictment of all Florida politics. But I assure you, it will come up in some @NikkiFried campaign ads.

Should also mention that @levparnas has joined one of my Twitter Spaces and read a text supposedly from Ron, coordinating a false attack by Rudy Giuliani against Gillum and claimed Ron got a “burner phone” after the election. He hasn’t proved any of it, so consider the source.

Thank you for the RTs. Hopefully some reporters actually make him answer questions, or someone files an ethics complaint.

And if you haven’t given up on Florida, throw me a follow.