Tag: rape allegations
Florida GOP Ousts Christian Ziegler As Party Chairman After Rape Allegations

Florida GOP Ousts Christian Ziegler As Party Chairman After Rape Allegations

Florida’s Republican Party on Monday voted in an emergency meeting to remove its state chairman Christian Ziegler from his position following allegations of sexual assault, NBC News reports.

No one voted for Christian Ziegler,” Republican State Senator Blaise Ingoglia told CNN.

Ziegler is currently under investigation by the Sarasota Police Department after a woman last year accused the former chairman of rape.



Politico reports:

Ziegler has maintained that the sexual encounter he had with the woman who leveled the rape accusations against him was consensual. He and his wife, Moms for Liberty cofounder and Sarasota County school board member Bridget Ziegler, also acknowledged to police that they had been in a three-way sexual encounter a year earlier with the alleged victim, per a search warrant affidavit.

Charges have not been filed in the case. NBC News reports “Ziegler was not in attendance for the vote.”

An anonymous source told NBC News the party was forced to oust Ziegler after he “did not do the right thing and resign.”

“I believe it was almost unanimous vote to remove Christian Ziegler, which I believe is the absolute right thing to do,” the source said. “And I want to reiterate that we are spending a lot of time and energy on this, on this meeting instead of focusing on the things we need to focus on, and that’s simply because Christian Ziegler did not do the right thing and resign.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Christian Ziegler

Police Expand Rape And 'Voyeurism' Probe Of Florida GOP Chair

Sarasota police are expanding their criminal investigation into Christian Ziegler, the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, to include video voyeurism, a felony that carries a possible five-year prison penalty. Ziegler has been accused of rape by the same woman he and his wife Bridget, a Moms for Liberty co-founder and school board member who helped draft Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, admit to having a three-way sexual relationship with.

According to a search warrant affidavit, police believe Christian Ziegler unlawfully filmed his alleged rape of the woman, which he claims was consensual. They have obtained a search warrant for Ziegler’s Instagram account, which they believe contains “evidence of the crime,” according to the Florida Trident, which also first broke the news of the rape allegation against Ziegler and of the three-way relationship.

The woman, who has not been named, says she was not aware Ziegler had filmed the encounter.

The alleged rape occurred after the woman canceled a planned three-way sexual encounter with the Zieglers, known as Florida’s Republican “power couple,” upon learning Bridget Ziegler, Christian’s wife who has strong ties to Gov. DeSantis, was not available.

“Detectives spoke with both the victim and Ziegler’s wife,” Sarasota Police Det. Megan Buck wrote in the search warrant affidavit. “The victim did not give Ziegler consent to take this video of them having sex. Neither … Ziegler’s wife or the victim knew anything about this video that had been taken of the sexual encounter on 10/02/23, and neither had seen the video of this encounter.”

The Herald-Tribune adds, “A Sarasota police detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit for Instagram records that she believes ‘probable cause exists to show (Zeigler) has utilized Instagram to commit the crime of Video Voyeurism.'”

Police have obtained two sex videos of the Zieglers: the one Christian reportedly filmed of the alleged rape, and a second one, of Bridget Ziegler “engaging in sexual relations” with an unidentified woman, sources said, according to a previous report by theTrident. “It is not known if the woman in the video is the same woman who has alleged she was sexually assaulted by Christian Ziegler.”

Bridget Ziegler confirmed the married couple had a three-way sexual relationship with the woman now accusing Christian Ziegler of sexual battery. She stood right behind DeSantis, now a GOP presidential candidate, when he signed his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation into law, an act some have called hypocritical given her consensual three-way sexual relationship and that both helped write and promote the legislation.

Last month the Republican Party of Florida stripped Christian Ziegler of his $120,000 annual salary and responsibilities, finding him unfit to serve. He has refused to resign, but reportedly is willing to step down if handed a massive payout, allegedly up to $2 million.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Trump May Soon Have To Answer Rape Allegations Under Oath

Trump May Soon Have To Answer Rape Allegations Under Oath

By Linda So (Reuters) - During a December visit to New York City, writer E. Jean Carroll says she went shopping with a fashion consultant to find the “best outfit” for one of the most important days of her life - when she’ll sit face-to-face with the man she accuses of raping her decades ago, former President Donald Trump. The author and journalist hopes that day will come this year. Her lawyers are seeking to depose Trump in a defamation lawsuit that Carroll filed against the former president in November 2019 after he denied her accusation that he raped her at a Manhattan department store in ...