A veteran political operative who played a mysterious role in the George Santos scandal now appears to be spearheading a newly formed super PAC that is supporting Ron DeSantis in Iowa.
The new super PAC, set up amid turmoil in the network of outside organizations supporting Mr. DeSantis’s presidential campaign, lists Thomas Datwyler as its treasurer. Mr. Datwyler was also briefly listed as the treasurer for Mr. Santos’s campaign after the Republican congressman first came under scrutiny for his widespread fabrications.
On Monday, the super PAC, Renewing Our Nation, spent more than $283,000 sending pro-DeSantis mailers across Iowa, according to a federal campaign finance filing. The contents of the mailers were not immediately clear. Neither was the source of the group’s funding or the reason for its involvement in the presidential race. The group is not required to file detailed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission until Jan. 31.
Aside from the connection to Mr. Santos, Mr. Datwyler’s résumé adds an additional layer of curiosity: He is listed as an executive at the compliance arm of the sprawling political firm owned by Jeff Roe, who until this past weekend was the chief strategist for Never Back Down, the main super PAC supporting Mr. Desantis’s campaign.
Mr. Roe, who resigned from Never Back Down on Saturday, did not immediately provide a comment on Monday.
In another oddity, the person listed as the manager of the sole vendor of Renewing Our Nation was, like Mr. Santos, unable to finish his term in Congress.
That person, former Representative Trey Radel of Florida, runs Cross Step Media, a Florida-based company that sent out the pro-DeSantis mailers in Iowa, according to the filing.
Mr. Radel, a Republican, was elected to represent the state’s 19th Congressional District in 2012, but served for just one year: He resigned under pressure in early 2014 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession. (He had bought 3.5 grams from an undercover police officer. His record was expunged after one year of probation.)
Renewing Our Nation has not yet reported other spending besides the mailers.
Mr. Datwyler and Mr. Radel did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Never Back Down and Mr. DeSantis’s campaign.
As Mr. DeSantis’s campaign has faltered, the outside groups supporting him have become a frequent source of distractions. Never Back Down and the DeSantis campaign have sometimes worked at cross-purposes, with their disagreements aired through public memos, an awkward dance necessitated by a ban on coordination between campaigns and super PACs. (Never Back Down and the DeSantis campaign were accused of violating that ban by a nonprofit watchdog group on Monday.)
The tensions between the two sides have grown so extreme that last month, three DeSantis allies started their own super PAC, Fight Right, to air negative television ads in Iowa about Mr. DeSantis’s closest rival, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina.
Now, Renewing Our Nation has entered the political arena as the third super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis’s presidential bid. The group was formed on Nov. 20, according to campaign finance filings. Its address is listed as a post office box in Wisconsin. Little other information was available about the group from F.E.C. filings.
It is not unheard-of for major political donors to route their contributions through newly formed entities to create separation from existing groups.
Mr. Datwyler played a brief but bizarre supporting role in the saga of Mr. Santos, the former congressman from New York. After Mr. Santos’s original campaign treasurer resigned in January amid revelations about irregularities in Mr. Santos’s filings, Mr. Datwyler was briefly listed on filings as his treasurer.
The arrangement made headlines when Mr. Datwyler’s lawyer sent a letter to the F.E.C., accusing Mr. Santos of listing him in the role without his permission. Mr. Datwyler “would not be taking over as treasurer,” the lawyer, Derek Ross, wrote, adding that there appeared to be “some disconnect.”
Then followed a head-spinning sequence of events in which Mr. Santos listed a new, previously unknown treasurer, leading to speculation that this person might not be real, but another alter ego of the congressman’s.
Mr. Santos has denied such claims, and has argued that Mr. Datwyler came up with a plan to supervise and oversee the Santos campaign filings using the name of an associate, rather than his own, to avoid blowback from being associated with the controversial congressman.
Reporting by The Daily Beast supported Mr. Santos’s account, leading to a notable reversal: Mr. Datwyler’s own lawyer, Mr. Ross, wrote to the F.E.C. to retract his earlier letter.
“Regrettably, recent public reporting has caused me to lose confidence in the accuracy and veracity of the information provided by Mr. Datwyler,” Mr. Ross wrote.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
