The online fundraising drive to raise money for Marine veteran Daniel Penny’s defense got a huge boost last weekend after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promoted it on Twitter Friday night.
On Friday, Penny surrendered to authorities after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office charged him with second-degree manslaughter over the death of violent homeless vagrant Jordan Neely on a subway car.
In a tweet Friday night sharing the GiveSendGo link, the Florida Governor stressed the importance of defeating “Soros-Funded DAs” to “stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda” and “take back the streets” for law-abiding Americans. He encouraged his Twitter followers to “stand with Good Samaritans” like Penny and show him “America’s got his back.”
By Monday, Penny’s GiveSendGo fundraising page had raised more than $2 million. Fueled by DeSantis’ tweet, the GiveSendGo website was inundated with so many hits, some donors were unable to access the page.
In a statement to the New York Post, Penny’s lawyer Steven Raiser was taken aback by the “outpouring of support” for his client, noting that tens of thousands of donors throughout the world have pitched in to help. Raiser said that Penny’s story “struck a chord in the psyche of New Yorkers” and has “echoed nationwide.”
But not everyone was happy with Governor DeSantis joining the effort to raise money for Penny’s defense.
During Monday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin railed against DeSantis for daring to promote the GiveSendGo fundraiser.
Claiming DeSantis was “leaning into Trumpism,” Hostin noted that DeSantis is “not a stupid man” but a Harvard and Yale-educated and trained lawyer. She argued that DeSantis promoted the fundraiser because he knows “what the base wants” and that “scares” her.
Hostin suggested that it was dangerous for the Florida Governor to help Penny raise more than $2 million for his defense “for killing a young black man.”
By Wednesday, Penny’s legal defense fund had raised more than $2.5 million.
