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The Sex Scandal That Could Take Down Moms for Liberty
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florida Dec. 22, 2023
The Sex Scandal That Could Take Down Moms for Liberty
Portrait of Matt Stieb By Matt Stieb, Intelligencer staff writer
Photo: Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images

After Moms for Liberty endorsed a large number of winning school-board candidates in the 2022 midterms, it looked as though 2023 would be a banner year for the conservative group, which is best known for promoting anti-
trans policies and book bans. Instead, most of its endorsed candidates were trounced last month in state elections, suggesting voters are becoming less interested in fighting the culture wars in schools. Now, the group may face
an even more existential crisis with its co-founder embroiled in a sex
scandal � not exactly a good look for a �parental rights� organization.

The scandal centers on a Florida Republican power couple, Bridget and
Christian Ziegler. Late last month, police announced that Christian, the
chair of the state GOP, was under investigation for an accusation of sexual battery that had allegedly taken place in October. An affidavit of the
incident published by the watchdog group the Florida Center for Government Accountability is almost entirely redacted but does contain the word raped.

The unredacted affidavit also states that the Zieglers had a threesome at
an earlier date with the unnamed accuser. On October 2, the trio planned to have another tryst, but when Bridget said she could not be there, the
unnamed woman canceled. �Sorry, I was mostly in for her,� reads a text in
the affidavit. The woman alleges that Christian arrived at her apartment without invitation and raped her; the alleged assault was reported to the police two days later, at which point a rape kit was completed, according
to the affidavit. Christian has reportedly told detectives that the sex was consensual and that he uploaded a video of the encounter to his Google
Drive, though police have not been able to find it despite issuing a search warrant to Google. On December 22, the Florida Center for Government Accountability reported that police have obtained a sex tape of Bridget
Ziegler and an unidentified woman as part of their investigation into the battery allegation.
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Amid the fallout over the allegation, Christian, a Trump ally, has faced
calls for his resignation throughout the state, including from Governor Ron DeSantis. After Christian declined to resign, the Florida Republican Party voted in an emergency meeting on Sunday to suspend him, stripping him of
nearly all his authority and cutting his salary to $1 � motions that could
lead to another vote to oust him from his position as chair.

Bridget has also been resisting pressure to step down from her position on
the Sarasota County School Board. (Moms for Liberty states that she has not been on the board since 2021.) Bridget, who helped write Florida�s �Don�t
Say Gay� banning gender discussions in elementary school, told the police
that the sexual encounter in question happened �over a year ago and that it only happened one time,� according to the affidavit. Some teachers in
Sarasota County are struggling to talk to students about the scandal, which could take down its most prominent public official. �The irony is crazy
because you have this woman and her husband who are so concerned with preventing children from hearing anything that doesn�t totally align with
their values,� substitute teacher Jessica Thomason told Mother Jones. �And
then it�s like I�m having to explain a three-way to a 12-year-old this
week.�

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