DeSantis Hires Matt Gaetz's Scandal Plagued Friend As New Public Safety Czar

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is apparently trying to appease Matt Gaetz, and perhaps send a middle finger to President Joe Biden, by hiring a former law partner of Gaetz who was terminated from his US Attorney position by Biden. The man, Larry Keefe, will be the new public safety czar for Florida, but his closet is packed full with controversy. Farron Cousins explains what's happening.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

Florida Republican governor. Ron DeSantis has apparently for some reason, uh, trying to stay on Matt Gaetz, his good graces. And he recently announced that he is hired a man by the name of Larry Keefe to serve as the new public safety czar for the state of Florida. Now Keefe happens to be a partner at a law firm where Matt gates worked before he entered politics. So the, to go way back, but it's even deeper than that. See, Keef was later nominated once Matt gates was a member of Congress by Donald Trump to be a us attorney, uh, for the Northern district in Florida here. And he got the job. He was asked to, you know, leave the post once Joe Biden came along. And so now that he was not working in an official government position, DeSantis decided, you know what time to put this guy back.

So I'll say, I'm not quite sure if it's to appease Matt gates or to spite Joe Biden, probably a combination of the two. But again, kiefs connection to Matt gates. Doesn't end with the fact that gates used to work with him. It turns out we've actually talked about Larry Keefe in the past because Larry Keefe was the guy who wanted to start an investigation into supposed voter fraud here in the state of Florida. And when the us department of justice told him, listen, you've submitted this for requests, but your request is just way too broad. We can't go along with this. Keefe went crying to Matt gates gates then went to the white house because this was after the election. But before Biden was sworn in Donald Trump, uh, has Matt gates come into the office? Gates goes in tattletales on attorney general, bill BARR.

So Donald Trump gets white house counsel, pat Cipollini to take this request back to bill BARR, bill BARR becomes irate. According to the reports, screams at Keefe says, if you ever talk to Matt gates again, I'm going to effing fire you. That's the quote. So Keef was already a guide, off Republicans Biden didn't want him to stay on his job, but he had a good buddy and Matt gates and gates took his complaints to Donald Trump. So, you know, there's a little bit of controversy there, nothing, you know, necessarily prosecutable or certainly not criminal in this guy's history. But Keith has a proven to be a good old boy, right? Tied into Republican politics down here in Florida, by way of Matt gates. He has a conduit right to Donald Trump. So of course, Ron DeSantis would want to pick this weirdo to be our new public safety's are for the state of Florida.

And the focus is actually going to be on illegal immigration, into the state of Florida, which again, I'm a little weird considering the fact that the Florida Republicans rely on the Cuban American base here in the state of Florida. Now I'm not saying they're here illegally by any stretch of the imagination, but they rely on immigrants here in the state of Florida. So cracking down, acting like you're going to be tough against these people basically singling them out. Uh, not sure that that's the smartest electoral strategy, but we'll see how that plays out. Not to mention the fact that Matt gates by way of the lawyers he hired looks like he could be headed for an indictment very soon. So Ron is this really the best route to go suppose things do go sideways with Matt gates. Suppose he gets indicted. What if he gets convicted? And now suddenly you got his law partner serving as the public safety's are for the state of Florida. You didn't think this through Ron, but you never think anything through. It's all about the immediate payoff to you. And this one I can almost guarantee is going to come back to bite you pretty hard.