TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Upon reports that Florida’s GOP chairman was the subject of a rape investigation in Sarasota, Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the prominent Republican should step aside and “tend to that.”
“So I’ve just seen (the allegations). They’re very serious. I don’t see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing, given the gravity of those situations, and so I think that, I think he should step aside, I think he should tend to that,” DeSantis said, taking the question Thursday in Georgia.
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The Florida Center for Government Accountability was first to publicly report about the investigation into Christian Ziegler, who is married to Moms for Liberty co-founder and Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board member Bridget Ziegler. The Florida Trident report cites “sources close to the investigation” to further state the woman who filed the complaint “alleged that she and both Zieglers had been involved in a three-year consensual three-way sexual relationship.”
“He’s innocent until proven guilty, but we just can’t have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny and so I hope that, I hope the charges aren’t true,” DeSantis said. “I’ve known him. I’ve known Bridget. They’ve been friends, but the mission is more important.”
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When asked for documents related to an investigation into Christian Ziegler, the Sarasota Police Department provided news outlets with a heavily redacted incident report containing several mentions of rape and sexual assault, but any mention of Ziegler is redacted.
No charges have been filed in the investigation and Ziegler’s lawyer says the chairman will be exonerated.
“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 that allegedly took place in a private home two days earlier.
Democrats were quick to comment on 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.”
The investigation into 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.
Ziegler took over the party in February, three months after DeSantis won a landslide re-election.
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.
DeSantis appointed Bridget Ziegler to a state-created board to oversee development on Disney World property. DeSantis stripped Disney of its ability to self-govern 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.
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