Effort to block subpoena dropped

Far-right blogger drops objections to GOP operatives’ testimony

Far-right blogger and Proud Boys associate Jacob Engels has stopped his attempts to block a former Florida House candidate from subpoenaing several GOP political operatives she says worked with Engels to publish defamatory articles about her, an attorney for the candidate said during a court hearing on Tuesday.

Liz Cornell, a Republican who lost her August primary for a Lake County state House seat, is suing Engels for libel after he published articles on his website accusing her of carrying on an extramarital affair and preying on an elderly client in her financial advising business.

Cornell is trying to subpoena GOP political operatives, including Gainesville consultant Stafford Jones; the eventual winner of the race, Republican Rep. Taylor Yarkosky of Montverde; the Florida Republican House Republican Campaign Committee; and nearly two dozen other individuals and organizations.

Engels initially fought the subpoenas, but Cornell’s attorney, Ricardo Reyes of Boca Raton, said Tuesday during a hearing before Orange County Circuit Judge James Craner that Engels had agreed to drop his objections.

Engels, whose attorney withdrew from the case last month, did not appear during the hearing.

Cornell’s suit said other operatives “conspired with Engels to commit defamation” and described Engels’ posts as “clickbait.” The former candidate is not seeking money, but wants to clear her name and show that Engels’ blog posts were deceiving to voters, Reyes said last month. He added that he believes Engels was “put up” by someone else to publish the posts.

Some of the claims Engels published last July and August on his blog, the Central Florida Post, were repeated in mailers sent by

a committee operated by Jones. At least one of the mailers also used a photo illustration of Cornell that Engels had also published.

Jones, who is fighting the subpoena, said he doesn’t know Engels and never communicated with him about Cornell. However, he chaired several political committees that contributed to Yarkosky’s campaign.

Jones filed an objection to the subpoena last month, saying he never communicated with Engels nor several other Republican operatives named in the subpoena about the articles. He objected to turning over his other communications with Yarkosky’s campaign and the other operatives, saying they were overly broad and “not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.”

Reached Tuesday, Jones declined to comment further about the subpoena.

Cornell also is seeking a bevy of documents from Engels, including any records of payment he received since the start of 2022 from her primary opponent’s campaign and several political operatives, including Jones.

Engels fought the request, arguing that he is a journalist and therefore has a limited right, known as a journalist’s privilege, not to be forced to reveal information or confidential news sources in court.

But Craner ruled that Engels had not presented evidence supporting his claim that he had a journalist’s privilege. Though Engels argued that Cornell’s request amounted to a “fishing expedition,” Craner said it was “fairly tailored to the questions raised” in her suit. An order entered on April 28 gave Engels 10 days to send the records to Cornell.

Reyes said Tuesday he is expecting to receive those documents by the end of the week. Engels confirmed in a text message on Tuesday afternoon that intends to turn over records responsive to Cornell’s request, adding he was not refusing to comply with the April 28 order.

When his attorney withdrew, Engels said he was not added to the court’s electronic distribution list and was not receiving updates about the case.

Cornell’s suit cites two blog posts published by Engels last summer, including one where he cited claims from a lawsuit filed by one of Cornell’s former clients, who said Cornell, a financial advisor, had given her poor guidance.

That same post said Cornell had outstanding liens for work on her home completed several years ago and did not vote for Gov. Ron DeSantis or former President Donald Trump during previous Republican primaries. Another post accused Cornell of having an affair with a married man.

Some of the mailers, text messages and a video sent by Jones’ committee repeated statements Engels made on his blog and used a photo illustration of Cornell that Engels had previously published. Voters also received a text message that linked to Engels’ blog post claiming Cornell had a relationship with a married man, but those messages didn’t disclose who paid for them.

Voters also received a text message that linked to Engels’ blog post claiming Cornell had a relationship with a married man, but those messages didn’t disclose who paid for them.

Jones has ties to Florida’s 2020 ghost candidate scandal, as a group under his control transferred $630,000 to a dark money organization, Let’s Preserve the American Dream, that funded an advertising blitz promoting the independent “ghost” candidates who ran in three highly competitive state Senate races.

The transfer from Jones’ group, Foundation for a Safe Environment, was reported on Sept. 30, 2020, just one day after Let’s Preserve the American Dream sent $600,000 to Grow United, a dark money nonprofit run by consultants working closely with Florida Power & Light. That money was used to produce the mail ads that went to homes in Central and South Florida promoting the independent candidates.

Jones has said his group’s transfer to Let’s Preserve the American Dream was unrelated to the Grow United transfer a day earlier.

Jones also works closely with the GOP consulting firm Data Targeting, which paid $15,000 per month to former state Sen. Frank Artiles to work on South Florida state Senate races in 2020, though it’s not clear what the scope of that work entailed.

Artiles was arrested in 2021 and charged with paying a friend nearly $45,000 to run as an independent candidate in a South Florida state Senate race the previous year. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Three Central Florida residents were also charged in connection with the scheme, including former candidate Jestine Iannotti and former Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris, who was found guilty last year on a misdemeanor charge.

Iannotti and political consultant Eric Foglesong, who face felony charges, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. Iannotti was a candidate for Central Florida’s former Senate District 9, a seat won by Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford. Jones and Brodeur have denied involvement in the spoiler candidate scheme and have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Jones also ran another committee that sent out ads slamming-Patricia Sigman, a Democrat who ran for the Central Florida Senate seat and won her primary, but eventually lost to Brodeur. Jones’ group never revealed the source of the funding for the ads opposing Sigman, saying a loophole in state election finance laws allowed him to avoid doing so.

But a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation revealed an affiliate of the Florida Chamber of Commerce indirectly provided the funding for the ads. The revelation was disclosed in records sent by FDLE to 18th Circuit State Attorney Phil Archer’s office, which declined to file charges against anyone involved in running the committee.