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CNN
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Top lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote the Florida Department of Health’s cease-and-desist letters threatening to prosecute local television stations for airing an abortion rights ad, the department’s former attorney general said in court documents.

In an affidavit filed Monday, John Wilson, the former general counsel of the Florida Department of Health, said that Sam Elliot, a top lawyer for the DeSantis administration, provided him with prepared letters to television networks on Oct. 3. Wilson was instructed by Ryan Newman and Jed Doty, both general counsel in the DeSantis administration, to send the letters under his own name, he said in the affidavit.

“I did not write the letters or participate in discussions about the letters before October 3,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson resigned the following week. He said he made that decision “instead of following Newman and Doty’s instructions to send further correspondence to the media” after the threats to local media sparked outrage.

“A man is nothing without his conscience,” Wilson wrote in his resignation letter. “In recent days it has become clear that I cannot accompany you on the path that lies ahead of this agency.”

Newman also directed Wilson to find outside attorneys who could be hired by the health department to help take action against the local stations, the affidavit said.

Spokespeople for DeSantis and the Florida Department of Health did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.

Wilson’s allegations came after local television stations began airing an ad from Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the state’s Yes on 4 Campaign, promoting a ballot measure that would end the state’s six-week abortion ban The enshrinement of abortion rights in the state constitution should be repealed.

The 30-second ad features a brain cancer survivor named Caroline who says state law denied her a life-saving abortion.

“The doctors knew that if I didn’t terminate my pregnancy I would lose my baby, my life and my daughter would lose her mother,” Caroline says in the Yes on 4 Campaign ad. “Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine.”

Shortly after the ads aired, some stations received warning letters from Wilson on state Department of Health letterhead threatening litigation within 24 hours if they did not comply with the orders.

Floridians Protecting Freedom filed a lawsuit last week against Wilson and Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, accusing the pair of engaging in “unconstitutional coercion and speech discrimination” while urging the court to stop them from following through on their threats afford.

On Thursday, a federal judge agreed that the department’s threats constituted “viewpoint discrimination” and issued a temporary restraining order against Ladapo.

Local TV stations also received support from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who said earlier this month that “threats against broadcasters for broadcasting content that contradicts the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free expression. “