TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' spokeswoman recently registered as a foreign agent of Georgia's third president, on behalf of whom she previously worked.
Christina Pushaw registered as an agent, detailing work she did for former President Mikheil Saakashvili between 2018 and 2022, according to the Washington Post.
Pushaw's attorney, Michael Sherwin, tells 10 Tampa Bay the spokeswoman helped advocate for Saakashvili, a close ally of current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sherwin says she also pushed for "free elections and democratic institutions" in the former Soviet republic where she was living at the time.
Sherwin characterized some of her work as volunteering, but not all.
"She was then paid for some of that work, totaling $25,000 over two years, which covered some of her living expenses," the lawyer explained in an emailed statement.
During her time working on behalf of Saakashvili, Sherwin says Pushaw wrote op-eds, reached out to supporters and officials and advocated on behalf of the former president in Georgia and in the U.S.
Sherwin says Pushaw ended her work in 2020.
"Ms. Pushaw was notified recently by the DOJ that her work on behalf of Mr. Saakashvilli likely required FARA registration," Sherwin explained. "Ms. Pushaw filed for the registration retroactively as soon as she was made aware.”
When DeSantis was asked for a statement on the matter at a Wednesday news conference in Fort Myers Beach, the governor told the reporter he had "no idea."
"She's right behind you, so you can ask her. I have no idea," DeSantis said, causing the audience to laugh. "I think you have some of these media outlets, like these legacy outlets our of D.C. and New York, and anybody that's standing up and fighting back, which [Pushaw] has done, they want to smear."
The governor went on to say nobody in the public believes the "garbage" that the media outlets are putting out.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Pushaw and the Department of Justice for comment Wednesday morning. We will update this story if we hear back.
