The Justice Department shot down a Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate’s wild claim about frontrunner Byron Donalds, whom he accused of being under federal investigation for sex trafficking.
In the battle to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tallahassee, Donalds enjoys a massive advantage in fundraising as well as the enthusiastic backing of President Donald J. Trump. Pesky insurgent James Fishback has refused to bow to the inevitable, repeatedly mocking the chosen one, but the mockery recently took a much darker turn.
In a lengthy post to X on Thursday, Fishback claimed that an investigation into Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) has “expanded to include” Donalds, who is currently the Republican member of Congress representing the Sunshine State’s 19th congressional district.
On July 21st, 2026, NBC News reported that Republican Florida Congressman Cory Mills was under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.
Like virtually every federal investigation, this one began with a single suspect before expanding to include others.
A government… pic.twitter.com/JQNVFtOkmT
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) August 6, 2026
“Like virtually every federal investigation, this one began with a single suspect before expanding to include others,” Fishback wrote. “A government whistleblower who approached my campaign has confirmed that this investigation has expanded to include U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds, who along with Cory Mills, is under investigation for federal sex trafficking.”
“Federal prosecutors are looking at two dates in question: May 17th, 2024, and November 19th, 2024, dates when Congressmen Mills and Donalds are said to have traveled to the MGM National Harbor—a luxury hotel resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland, where they solicited, procured, and paid women for explicit sexual acts,” he alleged.
On Friday, the DOJ rejected Fishback’s claim.
Falsely accusing someone of being under investigation is a dangerous form of weaponization. This claim is not true. Congressman Byron Donalds is not under investigation. https://t.co/QW26cT7b4d
— DOJ Rapid Response (@DOJRR47) August 7, 2026
“Falsely accusing someone of being under investigation is a dangerous form of weaponization. This claim is not true. Congressman Byron Donalds is not under investigation,” the Justice Department’s Rapid Response account posted to X, smacking down Fishback’s claim, which, if it was true, could potentially thwart Donalds’ coronation.
“In the coming hours, Byron Donalds will call this investigation a ‘political attack.’ It’s not. The Department of Justice, led by a Trump appointee of the same political party as Byron Donalds, is not investigating him for “political reasons,” Fishback said in his incendiary post. “They are investigating him because there is credible evidence that he committed a serious crime.”
“Completely false. We will not be distracted by this baseless and defamatory sideshow, and neither should you,” Donalds’ campaign said in a statement to media outlets.
Another indication that the claim is bogus is that the Democrats and their media goon squad didn’t jump all over it; they would have moved in like sharks with blood in the water to sully a Trump-endorsed candidate.
Fishback, a 30-year-old businessman, has derisively dubbed the black Donalds as “AIPAC Shakur” and a “slave” to donors and continues to aggressively badger him for a debate.
DeSantis has yet to endorse a candidate to be his successor.
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