REPORT: Texts Show Democrat Florida Governor Candidate Was Given Paid Trip to See “Hamilton”
Andrew Gillum and his campaign maintained he received the tickets from his brother the night of the show
Text messages recently made public appear to contradict Andrew Gillum’s (Democrat Candidate for Florida Governor) story about how he came to see the Broadway show Hamilton in 2016.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, undercover FBI agents footed the bill for the trip to NYC along with tickets to the show.
As late as Tuesday, Gillum was insisting the tickets came from his brother and that he pays for his own trips.
From the Tampa Bay Times:
Gillum has repeatedly given vague answers to questions about who paid for what during the August 2016 trip to New York. And during Sunday’s debate, Gillum again avoided the question when DeSantis asked him about the tickets.
“Did you pay for the Hamilton tickets?” DeSantis asked.
“First of all, I am a grown man,” Gillum replied. “My wife and I take vacations and we pay for our own vacations … I don’t take free trips from anybody. I’m a hard-working person, I know that may not fit your description of what you think people like me do, but I’ve worked hard for everything that I’ve gotten in my life.”
Andrew Gillum's campaign said in Sept 4 press release that Gillum's brother, Marcus, gave him the ticket.
Actual text exchange 8/10/16:
Lobbyist: "Mike Miller [undercover FBI agent] and the crew have tickets for us for Hamilton tonight"
Gillum: "Awesome news about Hamilton"
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) October 23, 2018
To cover up his lie, Gillum insinuated Republican Ron DeSantis was racist when DeSantis asked him if he paid for the tickets.
Gillum: "I don't take free trips from anybody. I'm a hard-working person, I know that may not fit your description of what you think people like me do"
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) October 23, 2018
It takes a special kind of shameless liar to do that.
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) October 23, 2018
More from the TBT here:
Undercover FBI agents paid for Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum’s hotel room and his ticket to the Broadway musical Hamilton during a 2016 trip to New York City, according to a bombshell trove of records that raise new questions just two weeks before next month’s election.
The records include photos, a video and dozens of text messages between Gillum, former lobbyist Adam Corey and an undercover FBI agent, and they appear to refute what the mayor has said that trip and others.
His campaign has maintained — and continued to maintain Tuesday — that Gillum’s brother, Marcus, who lives in Chicago, handed him the ticket the night of the show. The campaign has not said if Andrew Gillum has asked his brother how he came about the ticket.
“These messages only confirm what we have said all along,” he said on Facebook Live. “We did go to see Hamilton. I did get my ticket to Hamilton from my brother. At the time, we believed that they were reserved by friends of Adam’s, Mike Miller.
“And when I got there after work, got my ticket, we went in there and saw it, assumed my brother paid for it, and so far as I know, that was the deal.”
But the messages show that Gillum was told the tickets came from “Mike Miller,” who was an FBI agent posing as a developer looking into city corruption.
“Mike Miller and the crew have tickets for us for Hamilton tonight at 8 p.m.,” Corey texted Gillum on Aug. 10, 2016.
“Awesome news about Hamilton,” Gillum replied, according to the records.
Tuesday’s extraordinary release came from Chris Kise, an attorney representing Corey, who’s at the center of the FBI’s long-running probe into corruption in the state capital. No one has been charged, and Gillum has said that agents assured him he was neither a target nor a focus of the probe.
Kise said he gave the records to the Florida Commission on Ethics, which is investigating a complaint about Gillum’s trips to New York City and Costa Rica with Corey, on Tuesday. Then he gave copies to the campaigns of Gillum and his opponent in the governor’s race, Republican Ron DeSantis.
Gillum has repeatedly given vague answers to questions about who paid for what during the August 2016 trip to New York. And during Sunday’s debate, Gillum again avoided the question when DeSantis asked him about the tickets.
“Did you pay for the Hamilton tickets?” DeSantis asked.
“First of all, I am a grown man,” Gillum replied. “My wife and I take vacations and we pay for our own vacations … I don’t take free trips from anybody. I’m a hard-working person, I know that may not fit your description of what you think people like me do, but I’ve worked hard for everything that I’ve gotten in my life.”
But the records go beyond Broadway tickets.
They show that undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen were working for months to get an out-of-state meeting with Gillum, and that Gillum appeared willing to oblige them.
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Comments
Wow, a politician, especially a Democrat politician lied. And a black, Obama wannabe politician throws out the race card insults when he is asked about getting what amount to bribes.
It is things like this that show why early (and often for the leftists) voting is not a good thing. When late breaking information like this comes out and you have already voted for a crook you can’t take it back.
This Gollem character is a real piece of work. How can this NAtional SOcialist crook be in potential position to be elected. Will he be arrested shortly after if is elected?
God preserve this country against the stupid voters that are growing in number.
Thes have to be fake polls. I can’t see people splitting their vote. Nobody is going to vote for Scott and the Gillum on their ballot.
What is the reason an undercover FBI Agent would be at the center of this? This is a real muddle!
Another Black Eye for the FBI. I hope DeSantis wins.
There’s no muddle. Gillum apparently is, or has been, under investigation for accepting bribes while Mayor of Tallahassee. When a criminal investigation is trying to assemble proof that a politician is taking bribes, then either a criminal investigator or a citizen acting as an informant will be used to try and give the bribe(s) to the politician and the acceptance of the illicit gift is documented (preferably by video evidence, but audio, messages, calls and/or testimony works too).
How is this idiot so close to being elected governor? Actually, I can understand him running. I cannot understand how so many stupid people excuse these disgusting people and beg them via a vote to run their lives.
Every member of today’s (D) party is a basket case.
DeSantis, who is my congressman is not a very good campaigner, he spent more time on FOX and less in the district and he has shown indifference since winning the nomination. That’s how.
Gotta agree with that. Desantis is running a lackluster campaign and putting in minimal effort.
Say the Lefty polls are correct and Gillum actually wins, then he is indicted for corruption in office as mayor of Tallahassee. Then his anti-Semitic running mate would become the Governor. Sunshine state Jews had better keep that in mind when they vote for Governor.
I’m a hard-working person, I know that may not fit your description of what you think people like me do
What people would those be? Think he means “blacks,” or “Democrats”?
How about “politicians.”
I’m sure the press will be all over this any minute. Aaaaany minute now. After all, we have the FBI directly contradicting a candidate for governor. I’m seeing specials and demands for withdrawal and…
Oh. (D) Nevermind.
FBI agents deserve to be believed.
#FedToo
I just read recently that every FL governor’s race, the “polls” and papers predict a D win. Then the R nominee takes it and wins. Usually by a large margin.
Apparently, according to many who live there, FL is much more R that people (can you say media?) want the nation to believe.
Hope he gets tried, found guilty (which this evidence pretty clearly proves), then fined AND jailed for his corruption. Since it’s the FBI who did the investigation, it may just happen – under a Trump (R) admin., that is.
Local paper says under Florida Law, acceptance of a gift worth more than $100 by a public official is a felony. No quid pro quo neededed.
I’m sure there’s exceptions for family and close friends. That’s why a case would hinge on the text messages and having foreknowledge the tickets came from a third party.
Of course someone has to prosecute.
Evidence that Gillum knew the ticket was a gift is in his own text exchange.
and today Tuesday said Gillum posted a Facebook video defense saying anyone talking about this scandal is a racist.
The classic Melanin Defense. We be equal until we not.
Well that settles it. Nothing to see here, move along.
Paging Jeff Sessions