>>This week on NewsNight, Governor DeSantis announce a parallel state investigation into the apparent attempt to assassinate former Presiden Donald Trump in Florida.

Plus, Central Florida Stat Representative Carolina Amesty face four felony forgery charges.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, welcome to NewsNight where we take a deep dive into the stories and issue that matter to Central Florida and how they shap our community.

First, tonight, governor DeSantis announced this week that the state would launch its own investigation into an apparent second attempt to assassinate Donald Trump.

The Secret Service says it thwarted a would be gunman who'd allegedly been hiding for some 12 hours in wait for the former president nea one of his Florida golf courses.

Ryan Routh, is in custody on federal firearms charges.

DeSantis told reporters he'd spoken to the former president, who he said welcomed Florida's parallel probe.

The governor framed the decision to launch a state investigation as necessary for public transparency and credibility as federal agencies simultaneously prosecute Donald Trump himself.

Governor DeSantis also sai the state had the jurisdiction to pursue more serious charges than the federal government could.

>>You have a responsibility in law enforcement and as a prosecutor, to hold people accountable t the fullest extent of the law.

It would be one thing to hand off to the fed if somehow they had, more significant crimes that they could pursue.

It doesn't seem that that's the case as of now.

Clearly, if an FBI is admitted that this was an attempted assassination, you have that jurisdictional hook at the state level for by far the most serious offense.

I think this is an offense tha should merit a life in prison.

And if we're not going to go t the fullest extent of the law, you're lowering the threshol for which someone in the future may try to try to do something like this.

>>All right.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Beth Kassab editor of the Winter Park Voice.

Thanks so much for coming in, Beth.

>>Yeah.

Good to be here-- >>Always good to see you back on the show.

Joe Mario Pedersen, Central Florida Public Media.

Good to see Joe Mario.

>>Yeah, thanks for having me.

>>And Annie Martin, reporter with the Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks so much for coming in.

Good to see you.

>>Good to see you.

>>Good to see you today.

All right.

Let's start with you on this one, Joe Mario, just first of all, what are the charges that the suspect currently faces?

That governor DeSantis, as we heard just now, deems insufficient?

>>He faces federal charges of possession of a firearm by convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

And the governor has alleged that, you know, there were possible other charges that we can see coming as well.

>>The attorney general say Florida will work with the FBI.

But she and the governor have questioned whether federal investigators can be what neutral?

What what is their concern about impartiality there on behalf of those agencies?

>>Right.

So the two things that I've heard stated are the idea that the Justice Department is also prosecutin former President Trump on several issues and you know, could they prosecute someone who is also the victim of a different crime?

That actually happens pretty frequently within the justice system and there are all kinds of rules in place to ensure everyone's rights.

The other thing that we're hearing and of course, I'm sur this will continue to be raised, is could the Justice Department or the federal government overall be, less transparent in this investigation because they might come out looking bad?

As everyone knows, this is the second attempt on Mr. Trump's life in, a couple months.

And, and will this investigation potentially show more shortcomings?

>>The state says it's concerned federal authorities won't be transparent in their probe.

Why?

>>Right.

So DeSantis has expressed that he's concerned that federal authorities won't be transparent in this investigation.

He cited examples of othe shootings and other incidents where he felt like they were not transparent.

One of the examples he used was the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, where he felt like the public wasn't given the information they deserved about what happened.

And he's afraid that that might happen in this case as well.

>>Well, we'll see how this investigation goes and how it runs in paralle with what the federal government is doing.

A reminder, be sure to check out much more NewsNight content on our website, wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay, next tonight, a couple of election related stories here in Central Florida, we're going to talk about Beth's reporting on the race for the Orange Count Commission District five seat.

In a moment.

But first, the controversy over the race for state attorney in Orange and Osceola.

When governor DeSantis suspended Democrat State Attorney Monique Worrell for wha he alleged was neglect of duty.

He picked Andrew Bain to replace her.

>>City attorney's office has allowed lawlessnes to take root in our community.

>>Bain is now running with no party affiliation to fill the role permanently.

His only opponent in November is Monique Worrell herself.

After the Republican candidate, Seth Hyman, withdrew two weeks after winning his primary.

>>We must do better.

That's wh I'm running for state attorney.

>>In withdrawing, Hyman backed Bain.

In a statement announcing the decision, he wrote, in order to give this community the best chance of not seeing a second term for Monique Worrell, I have decided to withdra from the state attorney's race and will not appea on the general election ballot.

I do not want the anti-Worrell vote to be split, and I'm willing to make this major sacrifice to further that purpose.

But a Republican that Hyman defeated in the primaries no filed a lawsuit against governor DeSantis, local GOP officials, and Hyman himself.

Thomas Feiter alleges Hyman was a ghost candidate that intended to pull out of the race to help the DeSantis-backed Bain.

Hyman, though, has taken to social media calling Feiter's accusation ludicrous and describing Feiter himself as a ghost candidate to benefit Monique Worrell.

Well, let me start off with you on this one, Joe Mario.

Feiter says that DeSantis is sort of simpl going to suspend Worrell again if she wins.

But first off, just remind us about the governor' initial decision to suspend her.

What was his reasoning?

>>He basically said that due to her policies, it prevente assistant state attorneys from pursuing mandator minimum sentences regarding gun crime or drug crimes and as a result, that it led to, he says more violent crime in the area.

>>The Sentinel's done a lot of reporting on this, this story Annie, what do we know about Feiter's claims of a DeSantis orchestrated faction, if you like, that was trying to help Bain get elected?

>>Well, Feiter and Democrat Monique Worrell claim that, Republicans try - were trying to get Andrew Bain reelected and that they had, asked or possibly given Seth Hyman some incentive to drop out of the election right after the primary, afte he won the Republican primary.

And they felt like that would have, opened the door for Andrew Bain to win as an independent candidate, won reelection as an independent.

>>I mean, what kind of evidence is is Feiter presenting in this lawsuit?

What does he say?

>>So Feiter is saying that some officials with Ron DeSantis, as well as the Orange County Republican Party, actually approached him back in the May June time frame and asked him to go ahead and drop out of the race.

And he filed a complain with the Florida Bar over this.

And it was, I believe, closed, according to the reporting, I saw.

But, but he's saying he has evidence or, you know, his own testimony to show that these orchestrations were in place.

>>There was a debat between Andrew Bain and Monique Worrell just recently.

Central Florida Public Media was there.

What was interesting about thi was that Feiter was also there.

>>Yeah.

>>He actually asked Bain if he supports an investigation into this whole matter.

What did we hear from Bain?

>>So this was a really interesting exchange.

I've learned from my colleagues that the debate overall was really heated, but this particular moment, was probably one of the more tense moments of the night.

Bain basically sai that he would welcome a probe.

But he very quickly, turned the tables on Feiter, bringing up in an old dinner that they had had together.

And Bain had asked him why he was intereste in becoming the state attorney.

He says you asked that question four times.

And Feiter was not able to answer the question, saying that Bain had to wait his turn.

Which toward the end of this anecdote, at the debate that led, Bain to say, and I want to make sure I get this right, I quote, I'm good, man.

I told you all.

I'm a big black man.

I don't need to wait my turn for nobody.

So it kind of left a lot of jaws on the floor, at that moment.

>>Interesting.

I mean, both these guys, Seth Hyman and Thomas Feiter accusing each other of being a ghost candidate on behalf of somebody else.

We've heard that term ghost candidate, right?

Many times in recent years.

You've done a lot of reportin on the other examples.

>>Right.

For example, back in 2020, there were three candidates who filed as, no party affiliate candidates.

In competitive state senate races and did no campaigning for those posts.

They didn't talk to reporters.

They didn't fundraise, but they were promoted with a set of mailers that described them as progressive alternatives to the Democrats in those races.

And the allegations were that they entered those races to siphon votes away from the Democrats and helped tilt the election in favor of the Republicans.

>>I mean, broadly speaking, you know, as Joe Mario said, this is a a pretty heated, race.

Anyway, between Andrew Bain and Monique Worrell.

And it's it's interesting.

And it goes back, I guess, Beth, to the reason that the governor suspended her in the first place.

This election is something of a referendum, right?

On that whole progressive prosecutor model.

We saw it play out in Hillsborough County, too.

>>Yeah.

So with the lawsuit and candidates dropping out of the race, that's kind of shifted some of the attention to, what's happening within the election cycle itself.

But this election is a opportunity for Monique Worrell to give a statement to the governor directly by having the voters deliver her back into offic after her previous suspension.

We don't know if she's going to be able to accomplish that but I think she would argue that that would carry a lot of weight going forward.

>>Well, a very interesting story, and we'll certainly see how it all plays out when voters go to the polls.

Well, we want to let you know about a live recording of NewsNight Conversations next month in Kissimmee, examining issues in the 2024 elections.

WUCF will host conversations in both English and Spanish, featuring community leaders, nonpartisan organizations and others to join us at the BEV Event center.

Be sure to head on over to our websit wucf.org/newsnight to register.

While we're talking about elections, there's plenty of interes in the races for Orange County Commission.

One of those races is a runoff in district five where two candidates are vying to replace the termed out commissioner, Emily Bonilla.

Beth is covering this race.

This is a nonpartisan race, of course, Beth, just very briefly, if you can just remind us of who the two candidates are here.

>>Yeah.

So as you noted, it's an open seat.

The current commissioner is out because of term limits.

There were four candidates to start with.

Now we're down to two headed into November.

And it's Steve Leary a Republican who is the former mayor of the city of Winter Park, and Kelly Semard.

She's a Democrat, and she's also a professor at the University of Central Florida.

>>You've been looking at who is backing these two candidates.

Let's start with with Steve Leary.

He's established a political committee.

Right.

Who's contributing?

>>Yeah.

He is.

So he established a political committee.

He's raised, roughly $48,000 through the committee.

And, the names we're seeing, there are a lot of people who happened to have business before the Orange Count Commission, especially related to some of the key issue that have emerged in this race.

Development interests.

Tourism interests.

Universal is a is a large contributor.

Companies tied to land development interests out in the rural section of Orange County.

People who want their land annexed into Orlando.

And, those, really top some of the contributors to that committee so far.

I want to say, though, according to the most recent reports for that committee, it is not reported any contributions or expenditures since September 13th.

And, those reports are lagging.

But I think that's an interesting point to make.

>>But why a political action committee?

I mean, are they common in local races the sort of this level of race?

>>I thin we're seeing more of it today.

I don't know if Annie and Joe Mario would agree, but certainly I think I know of at least 2 or 3 just in the current Orange County Commission races, of course, district five, like we just talked about.

Also, district one on the other side of the county, the west side of the county.

One of the candidates, has has started a committee.

This is really common strategy for legislative, legislative races, statewide office races.

And I think we're starting to see that trickle down to some of the local races as well.

>>What about Kelly Semrad?

I mean, she's been a an advocate for that rural boundary that, that we've talked about on the show recently.

How does her fundraising haul look in comparison?

>>It doesn't look very good.

She' still sitting at about $60,000.

Again, the reports are lagging, so there could have been some contributions that have come in in the last couple of weeks.

But, this is a really low haul compared to Steve Leary, who, if you combine his campaign fund with also the committee fund, he's at close to a quarter million dollars.

>>I mean, interestingly, Larr has the backing of the Democrat in Orlando Mayor Budd Dyer, he's a former Republican.

This is a nonpartisan race, of course.

>>Yes.

>>Why does the mayor of Orlando say he's he's endorsing Leary here?

>>The mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, is saying that Steve Leary is a longtime friend.

They work together at both as mayors and he supports Leary's candidacy.

There's, certainly a lot of questions surrounding whether the mayor's interests in these annexations also have something to do with his support of the Leary campaign.

We've seen Buddy Dyer even go so far as to list Steve Leary among a slate of candidates he's endorsing for the election.

And, of course, again, Dyer is the probably one of the most wel known Democrats in the region, and Orange County is strongly Democratic.

So, you know, that could carry a lot of weight, although, I think it's important to note, Kelly Semrad came out ahead in the primary on August 20th.

We don't know what will happen in November, but, that that was interesting.

>>Well, I'm sure you'll keep across this race and all the other races that are important to the people of Winter Park as we get closer to November.

Be sure to visit us on social media.

We're at WUCFTV on Facebook and Instagram.

You'll also find us on X as well.

Our handle there is @NewsNightWUCF.

Finally, tonight, the indictment of Central Florida State Representative Dave Carolina Amesty.

The first term Republican pleaded not guilty to forgery charges this week.

Her trial is set to start in late October, just before the election.

>>That is how current statute is.

>Representative Amesty faces four felony charges.

The development follows two Orlando Sentinel investigations as they included questions over Amnesty' former role as an administrator at a fairly small school, Central Christian University.

She's alleged to have notarized an employment form for an educator who said he'd never signed the document.

The state attorney's offic says she faces forgery charges, all stemming from her role as a notary.

The office, in a statement, said a concerned citizen brought potential criminal wrongdoing to our attentio and in line with our obligation to investigate fairly and without bias, we requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation and thoroughly reviewed the facts and evidence of the case.

That information was presented to the grand jury, who found sufficient evidence to return an indictment.

Carolina Amesty turned herself in to the Orange County Jail.

Her campaign released a statement on social media saying Representativ Amesty calls for a speedy trial.

Looks forward to her day in court and is confident of her public vindication.

In addition to the FDLE probe, Amesty had faced an investigation by the governor's office into whether she'd violated notary laws.

But that investigation was halted after Amesty resigned as a notary earlier this summer.

Well, Annie's Sentinel colleague Stephen Lemongello asked the governor this week whether he would suspend Amesty, and also whether he'd again suspend Monique Worrell if she were to win that state attorney's race that we discussed earlier.

He's what he said.

>>I would just refer yo to the Florida Constitution.

We, the governo has authority to suspend countywide elected officials, if they're engaged in misfeasance, malfeasance, drunkenness, neglect of duty.

There is no constitutional authority as that applies to a state representative.

And so that's not in the governor's purview.

And so we take that responsibility seriously, because I think that provision of the Constitution was put in there to ensure, that that these officials are doing their jobs.

>>We should note that Representative Amesty has only been charged, as I mentioned, pleaded not guilty this week.

She says she's confident she'll be vindicated.

Okay, Annie, you've really been on this story, this fact.

This is your story.

Take us back to the first investigation that you did with your colleague Leslie Postal, this was back in January into Carolina Amesty.

What did you find out in your first piece?

Well, when Carolina Amesty firs filed to run for public office in 2022 she was a first time candidate, and she touted herself as a successful entrepreneur.

And her experience as a vice president at Central Christian University, which is the small school, in Orange County, that her family runs.

And she painted herself as thi very successful up and coming, Republican candidate.

We found that a lot of the things she said when she was campaigning, just simply didn't turn out to be true.

The restauran that she had touted owning and that she had describe as being a thriving business had actually been closed for several months while she was campaigning, and never reopened.

We also found that she had loaned herself $200,000 for her campaign at age 27, and her financial documents that she submitted, which are requiremen if you're running as a candidate for public office in Florida.

Did not explain how she was able to loan herself that sum of money.

So there were a number of things that she said while she was campaignin that just really didn't add up.

>>An then your second investigation focused on Amesty's role as a notary.

Right.

Which is what we're talking about now.

That's now the focus of the indictment, of course.

Tell us more about that and how it led to the probes that we're currently seeing, or that we've seen, I guess, by the governor's office and also the FDLE.

>>Right.

In her role as an administrator for Central Christian University.

Carolina Amnesty notarized an employment form for a man who had been a former employee at the K-Through-12 school that her family runs that' located next to the university.

However, when my colleague Leslie and I spoke with the man, he said that he had never worked for the university.

He acknowledge being an employee of the school, but said he had never worked for the university, and he also said he never signed the for that Carolina Amnesty notarized.

And of course, a notar signature is sort of a guarantee that that person actually really did sign that document, and he said he never did.

What was the route from your reporting to these charges being filed?

Well, if you notarize something in the state of Florida and that person didn't actually sign the document, that's a criminal charge.

That's a felony.

And so, our reporting prompted the investigation by the Florid Department of Law Enforcement.

And actually, a reader, complained to the state attorney, after reading our stor and alerted them to the issue.

So, you know, obviously as news reporters were reporting what we found, in the documents we've gotten from the state and, and, you know, our reporting was based on conversations we'd had with handwriting experts and our interviews with the man whose name appeared at the top of the documents.

But the criminal investigation, was sort of the result of that.

>>And State Attorney Andrew Bain acknowledging that this was a concerned citizen that had reached out.

I mean, to be clear, though, there was there was an affidavi that was sent to the Sentinel.

In it Amesty says that she did see the document being signe right before she notarized it.

So this is that's disputed.

>>Yes, absolutely.

She says that she saw the man, Robert Schaefer, sign the document the day she notarized it.

She also said in her affidavit that he had, memory issues.

Now, when we asked, Robert Schaefer, the man whose name appeared on the document about this, he was very adaman he had not signed the document.

>>Have you talked with Representative Amnesty?

And how did she how has sh responded to your work herself?

>>Well, we have not don a sit down interview with her.

We have obviously reached out to her, about our, investigations and our findings.

After those stories had run, she has been quite vocal on social media an in conservative media outlets.

You know, saying that my colleague and I were out to slam her, and saying that our reporting was false.

You know I think it's important to note that the Sentinel stands by our reporting, and we certainly stand by our findings.

You're a former editor at the Sentinel.

Right.

You're also the editor of the Winter Park Voice.

Now, I guess you you come across cases where you tackle issues involving politicians that push back I guess, is inevitable.

Right?

>>It is.

It's really common.

I mean, as long as newspaper existed, there have been people who have been the subject of stories and investigations who have not liked those stories.

But, journalists know to expect that, I think it's important to try to remind readers that strict standards that are followed when it comes to reporting, there are, you know, and I and I know in today's world on social media, it can kind of seem like a free for all.

But that's why, you know, I would I would urge readers to do their homework and look at the credibility of organization like the Sentinel, which uphold the best reporting standards that are out there.

Let's talk about Carolina Amesty's reelection bid.

I mean, this is a story about her indictment, but she is, of course, up for reelection.

She was a first term Republican state rep. Who's she facing?

>>Leonard Spencer.

He's a Democrat from Gotha.

He's got some history, working with General Electric, in Kentucky.

But he's a long time, Walt Disney Company exec.

He spent about 16 year with the company, and he's had a couple of differen hats there, including a finance manager and director of supplier diversity and sustainability.

And that's interesting because it really puts him at odds with Governor Ron DeSantis' anti-DEI agenda.

So they're bound to be at odds with each other.

>>And, of course, this is the district that includes the Disney World property, district 45.

Is it a is it a target for for Democrats?

And I'm kind of wondering how the Republicans, the GOP establishment, have responded to Amesty's difficulties.

>>Right.

It absolutely is a top target for Democrats this year.

It's a district that includes West Orange County as well as a slice of northern Osceola County.

Including, as you noted, Disney World.

And it's a very purple swing district.

In fact, the district went for Joe Biden in 2020 before choosing Carolina Amesty to be the state representative in 2022.

The Republicans, for their part, have been pretty quiet about Carolina Amesty's indictment.

They have, said very little or nothing publicly.

I reached out to a number of Republicans, a couple of weeks ago after news of the indictment broke and, most, most of the people that I contacted within the GOP establishment would not get back to me.

You know, it seemed like they're sort of signaling tacit support by not saying that they, you know, that she should resign or that she should be removed from office and and to be clear, it would have to be her colleagues in the state House that make the decision to remove her from office if that were to happen.

>>Interestingly, of course, the the trial is set to start towards the end of October, just before the election.

Well, thank you so much for your reporting.

You guys are doing really important stuff and unfortunately that is al the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Beth Kassab from the Winter Park Voice, Joe Mario Pedersen from Central Florida Public Media, and Annie Martin from the Orlando Sentinel.

Thank you so much for coming in, guys.

I really appreciate your time.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, from all of us here at NewsNight.

Take care and have a great week.