Ron DeSantis’ Watergate: The Governor’s Alleged Cover-Up of Felony Forgeries by a Lee County Prosecutor Who Later Died
How close does Governor Ron DeSantis’ alleged cover-up of felony forgeries by Anthony Kunasek, then chief of special prosecutions in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit, sit to Watergate? The activists who put the file into federal court say it sits on top of it. DeSantis has never been charged. The filings remain allegations. They are also sworn, and they were never answered on the merits by the governor’s lawyers.
Kunasek was found dead in his Fort Myers home on April 30, 2022, from a gunshot wound to the head. The State Attorney’s Office said it was not a homicide. That death came 30 days after forgeries attributed to him were laid out in blistering detail in federal court in the so-called « Don’t Say Gay » lawsuit, and a day after the FBI requested an interview about those alleged crimes, according to the activist filers. See WFLA’s report on the prosecutor’s death.
In Equality Florida v. DeSantis (N.D. Fla. 4:22-cv-00134-AW-MJF), sworn filings that DeSantis and then-Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody never opposed on the facts describe Kunasek forging a show-cause order under the direction of State Attorney Amira Fox. Two judicial recusal orders are also in the record as forgeries, though it is not clear from the papers whether Kunasek or courthouse staff produced those two. The first notice filed in the Northern District of Florida and a motion for an injunction against DeSantis are still on this site.
The Miami courts, then a Trump-appointed federal judge
The same filers say DeSantis and Moody used the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami and the Third District Court of Appeal to bury the forgeries in 2021 and 2022. Trump-appointed Judge Allen Winsor then dismissed the charges against DeSantis sua sponte, with no party having filed opposition to the DeSantis-specific allegations. Both the governor and the attorney general stayed silent in the district court. See Slate on Winsor’s assignment to the Don’t Say Gay case.
An appeal in the 11th Circuit (22-12392-GG) reasserted the cover-up under oath and alleged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242 — conspiracy against rights and deprivation of rights under color of law. The appellate papers asked the court to enjoin further conduct that would continue a speech prohibition memorialized in a state-court order DeSantis’s office supported. See the emergency injunction motion and a further 11th Circuit filing. Deadlines for the state to oppose that injunction came and went without an answer on the corruption claims. This section draws on wires from Florida activists. The criminal claims against DeSantis, Moody, and Fox have not been proven in court.
What the Don’t Say Gay case actually resolved
The federal lawsuit that carried these allegations into the public record, Equality Florida v. Florida State Board of Education, settled on March 11, 2024. The Parental Rights in Education Act stayed on the books. The settlement narrowed how it can be enforced: students and teachers may discuss sexual orientation and gender identity, may identify as LGBTQ+, may keep Pride flags and « safe space » stickers, and may run Gay-Straight Alliances. Books with incidental LGBTQ+ references do not violate the statute. Roberta Kaplan, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said the deal made clear that LGBTQ+ students « can, in fact, say that they are gay. » DeSantis’s office called it a win because the statute survived. The settlement did not try, and did not decide, the forgery file.
The national campaign that folded
DeSantis launched a presidential run, finished a distant second to Donald Trump in the January 15, 2024 Iowa caucuses, suspended on January 21, 2024, and endorsed Trump. He returned to finishing his term in Tallahassee. The Lee County corruption file The AEGIS Alliance has tracked for years did not go with him onto the debate stage. See our earlier reporting on Sheriff Mike Scott, fabricated evidence in Lee County, and Pam Bondi’s court cover.
A Change.org petition still asks the Justice Department to look at the 241/242 theories. Petitions are not indictments. Silence from a governor’s office is not a confession. A dead prosecutor, forged orders in a federal appendix, and a state that never answered the filing on the merits is a record. Readers can read it.
