FDLE official casts doubt on Florida's reason for concealing DeSantis' travel records

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement official Friday said that disclosing the cost of Gov. Ron DeSantis' travel from two years ago doesn't jeopardize his safety.

That's significant, because it comes after FDLE has repeatedly denied public records requests for DeSantis' travel expenses, citing safety and security exemptions.

And the statement came from Darrick Waller, who oversees protective operations for the department, which is being sued by The Washington Post for alleged public records violations.

During a Friday hearing held online, plaintiff's attorney Charles Tobin pulled up a slide of an FDLE document showing that DeSantis did a roundtrip flight to Jacksonville on January 27, 2022, with an attached multi-thousand-dollar cost.

"The disclosure of that cost would not jeopardize the safety of the governor at this point, would it?" Tobin said in the Leon County Circuit Civil court proceeding.

"No," Waller replied.

Tobin then asked if the after-the-fact release of names of non-law enforcement passengers would threaten the safety of the governor. Passenger names were not included in the document.

"I don't believe so," Waller said.

But, in May, FDLE denied a public request from the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, sent nine months prior and which asked for the individual costs of DeSantis' trips.

Most of those trips have been well-publicized. Nevertheless, the department said it couldn't disclose dollar amounts because they were exempt under a 2023 law aimed at concealing certain information to prevent the endangerment of the governor and other officials.

Other newspapers got the same response. The Orlando Sentinel, for example , sent its unsuccessful public records request nearly two years before the denial.

The 2023 measure came under immense scrutiny during the legislative process, with Democrats and transparency advocates worried it would reduce accountability on how DeSantis spends taxpayer funds for travel, especially ahead of his then-presidential run.

The sponsors of the bill — Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, and Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers — said it would help protect DeSantis and his family. And they reassured other lawmakers that financial records would still be released.

That turned out to be false, and now The Washington Post is suing. Gannett Co., Inc., the parent company of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, joined several other news sources in filing a brief in support of the lawsuit.

Attorneys on Friday also questioned Shane Desguin, a former FDLE chief of staff who has previously alleged that DeSantis' office played a role in stonewalling travel-related public records requests. Desguin echoed Waller's beliefs that financial and other scrutinized records currently being withheld do not endanger the governor.

"There's no times, there's no discussion of advanced plans, there's no discussion of anything security-related, egress, entrance, exit, routes, anything that would be of concern to the security package itself," he said of the Jacksonville trip document.

FDLE and the governor's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, but both have bashed Desguin's credibility in the past, accusing him of misconduct . Desguin, meanwhile , has filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Leon County, saying he was forced to resign after exposing misconduct by them.

Other Florida public records lawsuits: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused of lack of transparency, sued again in Tallahassee

What happens now?

Matthew Cate, another attorney for the Post, asked Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom on Friday to knock down the 2023 law. "If the Constitution of Florida, if the Florida constitutional right of access to public records, is to mean anything, the court should rule that this exemption is just too overbroad," he said.

If the judge doesn't do that, the newspaper's attorneys asked Sjostrom to rule that records like financial disclosures fall outside of the state law and other exemptions on the books.

The two sides on Friday also debated whether a backlog of public records requests is sufficient excuse for slow responses by the department — or, as Tobin put it, an "unreasonable, unlawful delay."

Nathan Hill, a partner at Florida's Gunster law firm who is representing FDLE, contended that a backlog could be an excuse if "the agency is operating in good faith and has procedures designed to the best of its ability to comply," which he said it was.

Defending the 2023 law, Hill said, "Just because an exemption is broad" does not make it inherently unconstitutional. He pointed to how the Constitution permits the Legislature to pass public records exemptions with two-thirds approval. "It was well thought out by the Legislature," he said.

Sjostrom said he would issue a written order "as quickly as I can."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FDLE official casts doubt on Florida's reason for concealing DeSantis' travel records