A document was released by Tallahassee's Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum aimed at creating distance between him and a federal corruption probe of his administration, but inconsistencies remain that could continue to drag down his campaign, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Gillum will be the Democratic nominee for Florida governor in November after winning the party's primary last week, leading to increased scrutiny into an ethics investigation that stems from trips Gillum took with a lobbyist friend of his and undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen.
Gillum said that he would release receipts from trips to Costa Rica and New York City to illustrate that he received no gifts during the trips. The receipts, released Tuesday evening, do not show who paid for costly outings on the New York City trip, such as tickets to see popular musical Hamilton, the paper reported.
Mayor Andrew Gillum released travel receipts Tuesday for personal trips he took to New York City and Costa Rica that are under investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics.
The early evening document drop by Gillum’s campaign for governor was more remarkable for what it didn’t include — receipts from any of the New York outings he took in August 2016 with his former friend, lobbyist Adam Corey, his brother, Marcus Gillum and two undercover FBI agents.
There was nothing to show who paid for his tickets to "Hamilton" or his stay at the Millennium Hotel or who exactly arranged a boat outing to the Statue of Liberty.
The mayor recently told national media outlets that Corey gave a "Hamilton" ticket to Marcus Gillum, who in turn gave the ticket to the mayor. However, Corey's attorney Chris Kise of Tallahassee contradicted that account and suggested that FBI agents picked up the tab.
Other outings on the New York City trip included a boat trip taken with the lobbyist and the FBI agents.
In a January statement to the paper Gillum said, "I never took anything that I did not pay for myself."
Gillum explained that he "didn't associate a value to being on the boat" because "one of the guys said it was their friend's boat."
The Republican Party of Florida criticized Gillum's release, calling it "incomplete at best."
Gillum's opponent, Republican Ron DeSantis, similarly said the release raises more questions.
"These receipts do nothing to shed light on his luxury trips to Costa Rica and New York City with lobbyists and undercover FBI agents," a campaign spokesman said. "In fact, they simply raise more questions about Gillum’s ongoing involvement. The people of Florida deserve answers, and Andrew Gillum keeps refusing to provide them."
After refusing to discuss details of the FBI probe during the primary, Gillum provided additional emails late last week to the New York Times and Washington Post, confirming he attended Hamilton with the group but saying he was "sketchy on the details" of who paid for it. Gillum's campaign said he never reimbursed anybody for the ticket.
Gillum also admitted to the national outlets that he stayed at the same hotel as the undercover FBI agents during the New York City trip and exercised with one of them on a regular basis.