- Welcome back.
The "Miami Herald" has uncovered how a local developer
hired Miami Mayor Francis Suarez
to allegedly use his influence
to push through a multimillion-dollar project
that was stalled in the city of Miami.
I spoke to two of the reporters on that story,
Sarah Blaskey and Joey Flechas,
about what they have found so far.
- So what we know now is that Mayor Francis Suarez
was getting paid $10,000 a month for at least a period
of almost two years by a developer, Rishi Kapoor.
And that developer, Rishi Rishi Kapoor,
had business in front of the city,
specifically this project called Urban Coconut Grove.
And what that was supposed to be was a co-living workspace,
modern development project
that Rishi Rishi Kapoor had been pushing,
but in 2022, it hit some permitting problems,
specifically a zoning problem.
And when that happened, documents obtained
by the "Herald" internal Company records provided
to investors in this project,
showed that when that impediment was hit, Rishi Kapoor turn
to Mayor Francis Suarez for help pushing it through.
And ultimately, by the end of '22,
it did get pushed through those.
Those issues were resolved.
- Joey, do we know how those issues were resolved
and what role the Mayor may or may not have played?
- What we have from the records is references
to contacts made to Mayor Suarez
to help push along the project and permitting process.
They're denying, the mayor is denying,
the developer is denying, and the city manager,
who was said to have attended a meeting in these records,
these internal records,
he's denying having attended a meeting about this project.
- So, Sarah, explain to me what the potential issue is here.
Why is this a problem?
I mean, if I'm the Mayor of Miami
and somebody wants to do a development that can bring jobs
in terms of construction, that can provide more housing,
more work, you know, flow for my city,
isn't that a good thing?
Isn't that what the mayor is supposed to do,
to help projects like this along?
- So on the surface level, this is very normal.
Mayors, commissioners always bring projects
to the city manager.
You know, the zoning director saying,
"I support this project.
It's going to be good for the community,"
that's kind of part of the job for an elected official.
What the difference is here
is that there were payments made, right?
And so getting paid by a private individual
for that action is something that ethics experts
and legal experts say is the actual problem.
That can create a conflict of interest, right,
between what is best for the community
and the constituents that you represent
and what is best for you as an individual,
your bottom line, and the developer that is paying you.
And that's ultimately the problem here
is that there was payments being made
and those payments totaling at least $170,000,
according to documents that the "Herald" has reviewed.
- Sarah, lemme just stay with you for a second.
Do we know what work...
Let me rephrase that again.
Sarah, let me stay with you for a second.
Do we know what work the Mayor was hired to perform?
I mean, he is an attorney.
Is there any proof that he was providing other services
for the developer rather than political influence?
- So what Mayor Suarez has said on the record
is that he was hired and being paid
to do capital introductions,
as in finding investors for these projects.
What the developer, Rishi Kapoor, says he was doing
was providing consulting on what type of restaurants
and other mixed use things should be in this space.
And what the internal records
that the "Harold" reviewed show
is that, "He was brought in specifically
to assist in pushing this through."
That is a direct quote.
- Joey, I would imagine that one of the issues here
and the reason why this raises so many concerns,
other than the direct payments from a developer to the Mayor
at a time when projects were pending before the city,
is the fact that none of this was disclosed.
- The mayor has for years declined
to provide his client list,
and the "Miami Herald" has asked him several times.
I've covered him for more than five years now
and asked regularly who he's working for.
He is a real estate attorney, and we only have visibility,
we can only see from his disclosure forms
which law firms he's working for at the time,
and at currently he's working for a law firm
and a private equity firm.
But it leads us to, you know, wonder
what probably you're wondering now,
which is how many more of these jobs exist out there,
how many more one-off or side contracts exist?
And we're left to wonder,
is he really identifying potential conflicts of interest
on his own?
- You know, Sarah, the mayor was recently
on "Face the Nation" with Margaret Brennan,
and she raised your reporting from you, from Joey,
from Jay Weaver, your colleague, you know,
talking about these potential conflicts
and the failure to disclose his clients
and how that may play going forward.
And his response at the time was,
"I wish my hometown paper was more interested
in the job I do as mayor than the other jobs
that I do in my private life.
Address that.
You know, why is this relevant?
- Well, I think this is relevant
because he's the mayor, right?
We don't care how private individuals conduct their business
so long as they do it legally and lawfully.
The reason that this is important,
the reason that it's important that he was working on behalf
of this developer that had business in front of the city
and was sort of pushing this permitting process
through according to the internal records,
the reason that's important
is because he's the mayor of the city,
so it's directly tied to his job.
And actually, that's the same reason
that the "Miami Herald" would like him
to disclose his full client list.
If, as he says, "There are no conflicts of interest
on that list," then this shouldn't be a problem, right?
This is something that the public only-
- Lemme just hold you there
'cause I'll play devil's advocate on his behalf.
As an attorney, isn't there something along the lines
of attorney-client privilege where he cannot reveal
who his clients are because it could, you know,
compromise him with the bar or with his clients?
- I mean, that is certainly what he says,
and I think there's a degree of truth to that argument.
However, I think that anyone that hires the Mayor of Miami
to work for them should understand
that they are hiring the Mayor of Miami.
They are not hiring a real estate attorney only.
They're hiring the Mayor.
And, you know, it was clear from these internal records,
at least in the case of Location Ventures,
that they hired him, you know, they kept referring
to him as Mayor Francis Suarez or "the Mayor,"
not just Francis Suarez, the attorney, right?
So he's being hired as the Mayor,
and that is an important distinction,
and I think clients need to understand
that with hiring a mayor,
there needs to be a level of disclosure.
But now that there are questions raised
by this particular case with Location Ventures
and there was no transparency around it,
it sort of does call into question the broader picture
of who are his clients,
do they have business in front of the city,
has there been, you know, the proper disclosures?
And those are the questions the public has,
and so far, the Mayor has not answered those questions.
- Joey, this all comes at a time
when Mayor Suarez is weighing
entering the presidential race.
He's got people already on the ground
in Iowa sorta working for him.
He's got individuals.
I've spoken to him where he's talked about laying out a plan
to run for president, that he has to get in the race
by a certain date so that he can have the number
of donors that he needs to get on the debate stage,
and he envisions himself being a player nationally.
What does this do, in your thinking,
for his national ambitions,
and how real are his dreams of being president?
- Mayor Suarez likes to sort of play his national profile
and the depiction of him in national media,
in particular on Fox News Network
and other conservative outlets,
against the coverage that we're providing.
It's part of what you asked earlier,
"Well, why does my hometown paper focus on this
when everybody else is focusing on that?"
That's sort of the subtext of what he was saying.
Well, you know, I think that what this does
is presents some pretty basic questions about, you know,
how the mayor of Miami conducts his personal business,
which is a pretty common question
for a presidential candidate.
He was asked the national television
if he would provide his tax returns.
He did say "Yes," and so we look forward to seeing that
if it happens.
But he is sort of aligning himself to make a run.
Everything that we've seen suggests
that he's putting the pieces in place.
Nevertheless, as of March,
a Fox News poll showed him polling at 0%.
He will face questions in a campaign trail scenario
about his private work, about what he's done as mayor,
but also about what he does in his private business,
and he has not been willing to sit down
and have the most candid conversation
that we could have about it.
We would be interested in having that conversation,
especially if he does declare to run for president
so that everybody can see.
- Suarez denies he has done anything wrong.
I recently spoke to Suarez,
and he has agreed to come on the show,
so we look forward to hearing his perspective.
We'll be right back with a clip
from my new documentary on Ron DeSantis.