Current:Home > MarketsFlorida’s GOP chairman is a subject in a rape investigation-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Florida’s GOP chairman is a subject in a rape investigation
View Date:2024-12-23 20:30:48
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The chairman of Florida’s Republican Party is the subject of a rape investigation, though no charges have been filed and his lawyer said he will be exonerated.
Still, the investigation into Christian Ziegler comes at a critical time for the Republican Party of Florida: Two Florida Republicans — former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis — are running for president and the state GOP is working to reelect U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. Florida was also key to Republicans winning a slim majority in the U.S. House in 2022 and the party will be defending the newly won seats.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability was first to publicly report about the investigation into Ziegler, who is married to Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler. The Associated Press asked the Sarasota Police Department for documents related to an investigation into Christian Ziegler. It provided a heavily redacted incident report. It has several mentions of rape and sexual assault, but any mention of Ziegler is redacted.
“Mr. Ziegler has been fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department,” his lawyer, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded.”
The police report was filed Oct. 4 about an incident two days earlier in a private home.
Democrats were quick to make a political issue of the investigation.
“I applaud the accuser’s bravery in coming forward against a political figure as powerful as Christian Ziegler,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said in a statement. “Ziegler can’t possibly continue to lead the Florida GOP under these conditions.”
Ziegler took over the party in February, three months after DeSantis won a landslide re-election in an election where Florida was one of the few bright spots for Republicans nationally.
Ziegler and his wife are a Republican power couple. Bridget Ziegler is on the Sarasota County School Board and has received national attention for her work with Moms for Liberty, a group that promotes a conservative agenda for public schools on issues like civil and LGBTQ rights and teaching about the experience of marginalized communities.
Ron DeSantis appointed Bridget Ziegler to a state-created board to oversee development on Disney World property. DeSantis stripped Disney of its ability to self-governor and created the board amid a feud that began when the entertainment company opposed his effort to ban instruction on LGBTQ topics in public schools.
__
AP Writer Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, contributed to this report.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Fantasy football waiver wire: 10 players to add for NFL Week 11
- 1 dead as Colorado wildfire spreads; California Park Fire raging
- What you need to know about raspberries – and yes, they're good for you
- Scholarships help Lahaina graduates afford to attend college outside Hawaii a year after wildfire
- Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
- Father, girlfriend charged with endangerment after boy falls to his death from 8th-story window
- Detroit man convicted in mass shooting that followed argument over vehicle blocking driveway
- Olympic triathletes don't worry about dirty water, unlike those of us on Germophobe Island
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor to step down at end of academic year
- Federal judge says New Jersey’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional
Ranking
- Taylor Swift drops Christmas merchandise collection, including for 'Tortured Poets' era
- Michigan Supreme Court restores minimum wage and sick leave laws reversed by Republicans years ago
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword, I Will Turn This Car Around!
- Exonerated murder suspect Christopher Dunn freed after 30 years, Missouri court delay
- Climate Advocacy Groups Say They’re Ready for Trump 2.0
- You can get Krispy Kreme doughnuts for $1 today: How to redeem the offer
- Squid Game Season 2 First Look and Premiere Date Revealed—and Simon Says You're Not Ready
- Rescuers search through mud and debris as deaths rise to 166 in landslides in southern India
Recommendation
-
Officer injured at Ferguson protest shows improvement, transferred to rehab
-
Christina Applegate Details the Only Plastic Surgery She Had Done After Facing Criticism
-
Horoscopes Today, July 31, 2024
-
Nursing home inspections across New Mexico find at least one violation in 88% of facilities
-
What are the best financial advising companies? Help USA TODAY rank the top U.S. firms
-
Inmate set for sentencing in prison killing of Boston gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger
-
Guantanamo inmate accused of being main plotter of 9/11 attacks to plead guilty
-
Colorado clerk who became hero to election conspiracists set to go on trial for voting system breach