Andrew Gillum, the 2018 Democratic nominee for the Florida gubernatorial election, is currently on trial for allegedly illegally receiving gifts, using campaign funds for personal expenses, and even lying to FBI officials.
The former Tallahassee’s mayor, was on trial in a federal court in Tallahassee on Tuesday, with prosecutors arguing that Gillum, during his run for governor, committed an array of crimes.
In his opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan pointed out that Gillum was paying for a large mortgage, making payments on two expensive cards, and paying private school tuition for his children all while quitting his job to run for office. As Milligan argued having quit his 6-figure job, Gillum was unable to keep up with all the necessary payments which is why he resorted to using campaign funds to pay for his personal life and expenses. Milligan pointed out that this case has nothing to do with politics and is instead a case “about deceiving donors (and) stealing from his own campaign.”
In the trial, Milligan also claimed that the start of the corruption occurred when Gillum’s campaign team reached out to undercover FBI agent Mike Miller, who at the time was posing as a developer looking for projects in Florida’s capital seeking campaign donations. The agent made several donations to the campaign, which were then diverted through P & P Communications, a public relations agency owned by one of Gillum’s supporters. The prosecutor further claimed that this agency did not perform any tasks for Gillum.
