"Concern" in GOP circles about Byron Donalds' best friend who was accused of being a child molester.

[tulipsandroses]

Byron Donalds, who is running for Florida governor, is the focus of concerns about vetting of him and those around him.

SNIP---

“The president did not properly vet him,” a prominent Trump supporter said of Donalds, specifically noting his close relationship with Wilcoxson.
For almost all of his political career—until now—Donalds has had Wilcoxson at his side. The pair, both 46, have posed for many photos together, including one with Trump, since 2013, and have celebrated Thanksgiving together. The relationship has been lucrative for Wilcoxson. Records show Donaldson has paid Wilcoxson—who called the congressman a “brother away from home”—over $300,000 in reimbursements and for consulting services since 2021.

In response to a request for comment, Donald’s campaign told the Beast that Wilcoxson will not be a paid consultant for his gubernatorial race, which is a break from his role in his two most recent races.
But it is the fact that Wilcoxson was charged with molesting a child—while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana—and how he responded that is causing concern about how much vetting Donalds has been through. Molestation charges against Wilcoxson were dropped in 2007, a year after his arrest. Wilcoxson previously said that Black men did not commit such crimes, saying, “with white men, it’s bombs, it’s serial killers, it’s child molestation.” He told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that he “never harmed anyone.”

SNIP----
Wilcoxson’s own record would certainly raise eyebrows for anyone vetting Donalds. Among the incidents in which Wilcoxson has been involved are:
In 2006, while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana, he was alleged to have given a teenage girl a “nude photo of himself,” which police said she then showed to some classmates. The child reportedly told police that she had a crush on Wilcoxson, and authorities alleged that he molested her in his car near school. Wilcoxson was held on a bond of $100,000. A year later, the case was dropped for unstated reasons. Wilcoxson told the Beast that he would never touch a child.

Also in 2006, the Indianapolis Star reported that he was dismissed as a substitute teacher for allegedly exposing himself to a custodian. Wilcoxson also denied this ever happened.
In 2013, he was fired as a Hertz rental clerk at an airport in Naples, Florida, and then convicted of driving a car for months without permission. Cops found the purportedly missing vehicle in his driveway and arrested him, despite his pleas that he was legally renting the car. He was sentenced to six months in prison for grand theft auto. However, that conviction was vacated in 2022 after it was discovered that Hertz had systematically submitted incorrect reports of stolen vehicles nationwide. Wilcoxson told the Daily Beast he’s never “stolen anything.”
In 2022, he was captured on camera lunging at a former Florida school board member’s husband during a Republican Executive Committee meeting. Video from the incident, described as “disturbing” by local news, showed a deputy holding back Wilcoxson—who told the Beast he is 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds—to prevent a fight among the fellow Republicans. No charges stemmed from the incident.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-stars-byron-donalds-top-aide-larry-wilcoxsons-racial-rant-about-child-molesters/

[yardwork]

1. It's a child sex trafficking ring.

It's obvious. Trump's right in the middle of it.

[Hornedfrog2000]

9. Of course he is.

They would bring little girls over seas on his 'beauty pagents' aka pedo livestock auctions. I guarantee some of them never came back home. It was the perfect vessel for him to hide his international child sex traffic ring.

[yardwork]

12. It's how Melania came to the U.S.

[FalloutShelter]

2. GOPedos'R'us

[hildegaard28]

3. Oh but

He did vet him. Pedophiles of a feather flock together.

[live love laugh]

4. Just like Trump's best friend.

[ecstatic]

5. SMH nt

[irisblue]

6. #NotADragQueen. Just the typical authoritarian GOP male who gets off on kids

[Hornedfrog2000]

7. Well, they are the party of pedophiles

And rapists, so what is the problem?

[Brainfodder]

8. What's the word from Susan on this?

[BoRaGard]

10. G.O.P. doing it's damndest to protect pedos

[MLWR]

11. Apparently if they aren't pedophiles themselves,

they are friends of pedophiles. Some eff'd up excuse for a political party.