DeSantis says Hope Florida has helped more than 30,000 people get off means-tested government assistance, secured jobs for more than 3,000 people and saved the taxpayer more than $100M.DeSantis stressed that Hope Florida is not an agency or a bureaucracy.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is slamming an investigation into his wife’s Hope Florida charity as “pure politics’ following a Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald report that Leon County prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into the embattled charity.

Governor Ron DeSantis, left, looks on as his wife Casey DeSantis, carrying daughter Mamie, speaks during a campaign event at The Hangout on January 20, 2024, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. AP/Meg Kinnard