Haley Campaign Press Release - BREAKING: DeSantis Scrubs Florida Website of His China Ties

CHARLESTON, S.C. — As Ron DeSantis lobs false attacks and drops in the polls, The Messenger released an exposé on DeSantis' efforts to recruit Chinese businesses to Florida and scrub Florida government websites of all the evidence.

DeSantis is the chairman of Florida's economic development arm, called Enterprise Florida. As of yesterday, November 1, Enterprise Florida listed an office in Hong Kong and boasted about all it had done to recruit Chinese investment in Florida. Those links are all now dead.

According to The Messenger: "The website for Florida's economic development entity used to feature a 2020 report that talked extensively about business opportunities in China. And it once displayed a world map that included a Hong Kong international office. On Thursday morning, both were entirely gone from Select Florida's website."

"Ron DeSantis has been knee-deep in recruiting Chinese companies to Florida for years," said campaign spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik. "Now that he's running for president, he's going to great lengths to hide all the evidence. The more Ron DeSantis loses, the more he lies."

This is what Enterprise Florida's website looked like yesterday.

1) Ron DeSantis is the chairman of Enterprise Florida

2) A 2020 report details DeSantis' aggressive recruitment of Chinese companies investment

A 2019-2022 Enterprise Florida annual report details the great lengths Florida went to position "Florida as an ideal business destination for Chinese companies." The annual report, which has been scrubbed from the Internet, states, "EFI Hong Kong leveraged trade shows and industry or investment forums to expand our network and explore trade and investment opportunities for Florida."

3) Enterprise Florida has an office in Hong Kong

Whoops: DeSantis forgot to scrub a 2022 report listing Enterprise Florida's Hong Kong office

Whoops: DeSantis forgot to scrub an October 2022 report boasting about the jobs resulting from Chinese investment in Florida