Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) has demanded Florida’s Attorney General open a criminal investigation into Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) Monday over a scandal allegedly involving a secretly chartered flight to visit her father in Florida.
Sabatini exclusively shared his request with Breitbart News in which he asks Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody to investigate if Whitmer “misused her public office and violated several Florida Statues while traveling through Florida.”
“If Governor Whitmer is found to have violated Florida Law, she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible,” Sabatini wrote.
“It is clear based on the definition of ‘public servant’ in Florida Statutes that this state has jurisdiction over Governor Whitmer based on her actions while traveling in this state,” Sabatini argued. “The statute defines a public servant as “any officer of a governmental entity… including any executive… branch officer.'”
“Any and all public officials visiting Florida must respect the laws of our Great State. For this reason, Governor Whitmer’s behavior in Florida should not go unchecked and must be looked into with a full criminal investigation,” Sabatini explained.
Sabatini laid out the following Florida statutes he believes Whitmer may have violated:
1.) Florida Statute 838.016, Unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior. —
It is unlawful for a public servant, to knowingly and intentionally request, solicit, accept, or agree to accept, any pecuniary or other benefit not authorized by law, for the past, present, or future performance, nonperformance, or violation of any act or omission which the person believes to have been, or the public servant represents as having been, either within the official discretion of the public servant, in violation of a public duty, or in performance of a public duty…
2.) Florida Statutes 812.014 Theft.—
(1) A person commits theft if he or she knowingly obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or to use, the property of another with intent to, either temporarily or permanently:
(b) Appropriate the property to his or her own use or to the use of any person not entitled to the use of the property.
Whitmer has attempted to explain away the secret flight by claiming a dark money, nonprofit organization paid for the FAA unapproved chartered jet so she could to visit her wealthy and ailing father.
“A brief trip,” she disclosed during a press conference before previously urging Michiganders to refrain from traveling to Florida due to Chinese coronavirus concerns. “It was not a vacation and it was not a gift.”
“I showed up when I was needed. I did a lot of cooking, a lot of cleaning,” she added.
Breitbart News’s Kyle Olson’s reporting on the scandal suggests that if “Whitmer had a legal justification for using the nonprofit funds for the trip, it would indicate she did other things in Florida besides tending to her father’s alleged needs.”
“The trip occurred in March, the original story broke in April, and the 501(c)(4) acknowledged it as an expense in May,” Olson explained.
Sabatini’s demand for a Florida investigation into the scandal joins two other serious inquires: An ethics complaint to the Michigan State Board of Ethics by the Americans for Public Trust and Michigan Rising Action’s complaint to the Internal Revenue Service.
The third inquiry comes one day after Whitmer was curiously discovered violating her own coronavirus orders at an East Lansing, Michigan, bar, admitting that she “went with friends to a local restaurant.”
“As more people arrived, the tables were pushed together. Because we were all vaccinated, we didn’t stop to think about it,” she excused her contradictory actions.
“They have pretty good Pizza,” she spoke to the violation Monday.
Whitmer’s unforced errors have compounded as Michiganders have suffered from restaurant curfews, overbearing mask rules, and social distancing mandates.
An astounding 32 percent of Michigan businesses were shuttered during the coronavirus in December of 2020. Michiganders were also told not to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Whitmer has a favorability rating below 50 percent, and only 44 percent believe Michigan is headed in the right direction.