TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he turned down a request from a now-indicted Ukrainian American businessman and political donor to join his transition team.
The governor told reporters the request came from Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman, both based in South Florida, are facing federal charges that they used foreign money in an attempt to influence elections in the U.
S.“This individual had no involvement in any policy or anything involving the administration,” DeSantis said after a Florida Cabinet meeting. “In fact, one of the South Florida fundraisers who worked on these fundraisers for us received a request from him to be on one of our transition committees for public safety. That request was denied.”
DeSantis did not specify if it was Parnas or Fruman in his comments, but DeSantis spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré confirmed to POLITICO it was Parnas. Aguirre Ferré did not respond to questions about the identity of the South Florida fundraiser to whom the request was made.
Parnas sought to join the DeSantis Transition Advisory Committee on Public Safety, a 45-member panel set up to make public safety policy recommendations to the new administration. The committee was focused on law enforcement, justice for victims and holding government institutions accountable, according to a December release announcing its creation.
The governor’s relationship with Parnas and Fruman has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after a series of pictures surfaced showing the governor with Parnas. POLITICO reported that Parnas attended a series of DeSantis’ campaign events leading up to election day last November.
Global Energy Producers, a company the two founded, gave $50,000 to a DeSantis-controlled political committee, money that DeSantis transferred to the U.
S. Treasury after the two men were arrested. Federal prosecutors allege that the same company was used to funnel $325,000 in foreign money to a super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign. The indictment does not mention the DeSantis contribution.Last week, DeSantis said that he knew Parnas, but not Fruman. He characterized Parnas as one of Trump’s biggest Florida supporters.
“This is a guy who was at [Republican National Committee] functions, Trump Victory functions. He was at a lot of these things,” DeSantis told reporters last week. He was “viewed as one of the top supporters of the president in Florida. It was like any other donor, nothing more than that.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine