Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier served an investigative subpoena on the Democratic Socialists of America this week, demanding the organization turn over records as his office examines whether it accepted money or support from the communist regimes in Cuba and China — and whether its fundraising from Florida donors was lawful and transparent.
Uthmeier announced the subpoena in a video posted to X on Tuesday, according to RedState, and confirmed the scope of the probe to Newsweek. "We are examining whether DSA accepted contributions or support from foreign sources of concern—including the regimes in Cuba and China—and whether its fundraising from Florida donors has been fully transparent and lawful," Uthmeier told Newsweek.
The subpoena was issued under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act alongside state statutes governing charitable solicitations, the Tampa Free Press reported. Those laws give investigators the power to demand records and testimony, and the inquiry is aimed squarely at the group's international activity.
What Investigators Are Looking At
According to Uthmeier's office, the review covers recent DSA delegations to Cuba and China, "travel fund solicitations that sought tens of thousands of dollars to cover costs for those trips," and related activity involving Florida chapters, Newsweek reported.
The Cuba trip at the center of the probe took place in October 2025, when roughly 40 DSA members — including elected officials and members of the group's National Political Committee — traveled to Havana. DSA's International Committee has said the delegation visited schools and hospitals, delivered educational and medical supplies, and met with Cuban government representatives, including Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos de Cossio, per Newsweek.
The money side is drawing just as much attention. In January 2026, DSA National Political Committee member Christian Araos announced the creation of the Venceremos Fund, an initiative meant to help members finance the group's international delegations. Writing in Democratic Left, a DSA publication, Araos said more than 200 members applied for a second delegation to Havana even though the organization could only accommodate 40, Newsweek reported.
The subpoena follows a March delegation in which 20 DSA members joined the Nuestra América Convoy to Havana — the same sanctions-defying trip that landed Rep. Ilhan Omar's daughter, Isra Hirsi, in a State Department report on Cuban propaganda, according to RedState. That report, titled "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism," named Hirsi and several other progressive figures among those who traveled to the island in March. When asked whether her daughter had support from the Cuban regime or groups tied to it, Omar said "Absolutely not" and dismissed the report as a "waste of ink."
The DSA had not responded publicly to the subpoena as of Wednesday, and it is not yet known whether the organization will comply or fight the demand in court. No finding of wrongdoing has been made; the subpoena is a demand for records, not a charge.
Florida has become the first state to formally demand the books from a national socialist organization over its foreign travel and fundraising, putting the DSA's Havana and Beijing relationships under a legal microscope that could extend well beyond the Sunshine State's chapters.
Our Take
Here's the question every Florida donor should be asking: when the Democratic Socialists of America pass the hat to send forty comrades to Havana, whose money is actually in the envelope — and who else is putting money in?
For years the DSA has worn its affection for communist regimes on its sleeve, organizing convoys that defy U.S. sanctions and sitting down with Cuban government officials while calling it "solidarity." Now a state attorney general is asking the obvious follow-up that legacy media never will: where did the tens of thousands of dollars in travel funds come from, and were Florida donors told the truth about how it was raised and spent?
This is what accountability looks like when it isn't filtered through a newsroom that treats socialism as a lifestyle brand. Uthmeier isn't criminalizing anybody's politics. He's demanding receipts under consumer protection and charitable solicitation laws that apply to every organization raising money from Florida residents.
The DSA can comply, open its books, and prove there's nothing to hide. Or it can lawyer up and let Americans wonder why a group so loud about "transparency" goes quiet when a subpoena shows up.
Which do you think it will choose, folks?
