Federal investigators have subpoenaed a raft of records relating to former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and his 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
Last year, Gillum (now a CNN contributor) said he was not under investigation or a target of federal subpoenas, even after more than 20 subpoenas were issued in an FBI investigation into corruption in Tallahassee’s local government. “Twenty-plus subpoenas have been issued, and not one of them has anything to do with me,” he said.
Part of that claim is no longer true, according to the Tampa Bay Times which obtained the grand jury subpoena focusing on Gillum, his campaign, several associates, and a nonprofit organization he worked for. Gillum is not necessarily under investigation, despite being a central figure in the subpoena.
Gillum, 39, has been involved in Tallahassee local politics for 15 years, serving on the Tallahassee City Commission from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor from 2014 to 2018. Gillum ran to become the governor of Florida in 2018, winning the Democratic primary but losing a close general election to Republican Ron DeSantis.
During his gubernatorial campaign, Gillum was dogged by questions surrounding an FBI investigation into Tallahassee City Hall that has resulted in three arrests.
Emails and records released last year showed that an undercover FBI agent gave a ticket to the Broadway show “Hamilton” to Gillum, as well as paid for a fundraiser for the then-candidate for governor.
Several people connected to Gillum are named in the subpoena. Donald Sussman donated $1.5 million to Gillum’s campaign for governor. John H. Jackson is president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, a nonprofit group that Gillum sat on the board of until March 2017. Sharon Lettman-Hicks runs a public relations firm and is a former adviser to Gillum.
