Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said he knew one of the two businessmen arrested in Florida who had ties to President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and were part of the pressure campaign on Ukraine to investigate Democrats.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested last week and charged with attempting to funnel foreign money into U.S. politics using a shell corporation. They also donated $50,000 to DeSantis’ campaign in 2016.
"I knew Parnas, I didn't know the other guy as much," DeSantis told reporters after touring the Loxahatchee River District facility in Jupiter, Florida, to announce a package of clean water legislation, reports The Palm Beach Post.
"He was, I think, viewed as one of the top supporters of the president in Florida, and so it was just like any other donor."
DeSantis said Parnas "seemed legitimate to us," but, "once we saw what had happened last week, we went ahead and scourged that money to the Treasury.”
"Obviously, had we known that that was going to happen, we would have made different decisions," DeSantis added.
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