A lobbyist for vaccine maker Moderna and the maker of a leading puberty blocker given to transgender children is hosting a fundraising event for Ron DeSantis in Washington DC this month.
This puts the Florida governor in an awkward position as he tries to overcome anti-vaxxer sentiment and his record limiting gender-affirming treatment all the way to the White House.
He is pushing for a grand jury investigation into Moderna and has banned transgender treatment for minors in Florida.
The Trump campaign was quick to slam DeSantis, accusing him of hypocrisy while taking orders from his “globalist masters”.
The controversy stems from an event to be held at the offices of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, DC’s largest federal lobbying firm, on June 23. DeSantis supporters can purchase a seat with a $1,000 donation, according to an invitation obtained by DailyMail.com.
Lobbyist Marc Lampkin is on the host committee for a fundraising event for Ron DeSantis in Washington DC He has represented COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna, the maker of a puberty-blocking drug and a Chinese semi -conductors
Tickets are $1,000 for the event in downtown Washington, D.C.
One of the hosts is firm associate Marc Lampkin, who has been on the wrong side of a host of DeSantis or Republican red button issues.
He has been registered as a lobbyist for Moderna, maker of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, since February 2021.
Filings show it has also been registered with AbbVie, maker of puberty blocker Lupron, since 2014. The drug was given to trans children in Florida to suspend puberty, but its use is now in doubt since DeSantis signed a bill banning the use of these drugs for new patients under 18.
And Foreign Agents Registration Law documents show he was representing Fujian Jinhua, a Chinese state-owned semiconductor maker. In 2018, he was sanctioned by the Trump administration, which said he was a security threat.
Trump’s senior aide Jason Miller criticized the link.
“It’s no surprise that Ron DeSanctimonious is fundraising with a lobbyist for a Chinese semiconductor company given that his globalist masters at the Club for No Growth have a China First trade policy,” he said. declared.
‘DeSanctus” hypocrisy surrounding the COVID vaccine and his willingness to accept money from a representative of a company making puberty blockers also show that DeSanctus is willing to sell anything if the price is right. correct.
The DeSantis campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court in December to appoint a grand jury to investigate “wrongdoing” related to Covid-19 vaccines, including those made by Moderna.
But the portfolio of interests puts Lampkin and company at odds with DeSantis.
Last month, the governor of Florida accused a “small group of ideologically charged people within medicine” of forcing transgender procedures on minors.
“They’re trying to do sex reassignment surgeries on minors, giving them things like puberty blockers and doing things that are irreversible to them,” DeSantis said, signing the law banning Lupron use. and other drugs on children. (Lupron was originally licensed to treat prostate cancer.)
Yet records show that its maker AbbVie pays the Lampkin company $60,000 every quarter — $240,000 a year — to make its case in Washington.
And Moderna pays $320,000 a year for “issues related to mRNA-based drug discovery, drug development, and vaccine technologies.”
DeSantis, who once championed COVID vaccines, has made common cause with anti-vaxxers as he seeks to carve out distinctive territory from his chief rival Trump.
In particular, he raised concerns about mRNA vaccines, of the type made by Moderna, their side effects and their effectiveness.
AbbVie manufactures Lupron, one of a class of drugs used in the treatment of gender dysphoria to halt the process of puberty
DeSantis has spent the past week visiting early state primaries or caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He is second in the polls behind Donald Trump.
In December, he asked the Florida Supreme Court to appoint a grand jury to investigate “wrongdoing” related to Covid-19 vaccines.
“An investigation is warranted to determine whether the pharmaceutical industry has engaged in fraudulent practices,” says his petition, which makes 11 references to Moderna. “The people of Florida deserve to know the truth.”
Like other Republican candidates, DeSantis has identified China as a national security threat, even banning land purchases by the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliates in Florida.
Yet his partisan lobbyist in Washington has registered as a “foreign agent” to represent Fujian Jinhua, a joint venture between the Chinese government and the Fujian provincial government.
In 2018, he was accused of stealing American chip technology. The Trump administration has blacklisted the company and warned it could flood the market with cheap semiconductors that could bankrupt US companies that supply the US armed forces, making it a threat to national security.
Robert Spalding, who served as a US defense attaché in China before joining Trump’s National Security Council, said Republican candidates recognized Beijing as a major threat.
But they had to do more to protect themselves from Chinese money.
“It’s the number one threat,” he said. “This is not an invasion of the United States. They are the ones who influence our political process through organizations, individuals and businesses.
