Florida's Republican chair has denied a woman's rape allegation in a case roiling state politics
Source: AP
By TERRY SPENCER
Updated 6:30 PM CST, December 2, 2023
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The head of the Florida Republican Party, whose wife is a founder of one of the nation’s most prominent conservative groups, has been accused of rape, leading Gov. Ron DeSantis to call for his resignation, roiling the state’s conservative politics and creating accusations of hypocrisy from Democrats and LBGTQ+ activists.
Police search warrant affidavits obtained by Florida news organizations show that a woman who had been friends with Christian Ziegler for 20 years has accused him of raping her in her apartment two months ago. Ziegler, a longtime party activist who took over the state Republican Party in February, denied the allegations in an interview with police, saying the sex was consensual.
No criminal charges have been filed against Ziegler, 40, but the Sarasota Police investigation remains open. The accuser’s name has not been released, and The Associated Press doesn’t identify the possible victims of sexual assault without their permission.
“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-florida-2024-election-christian-ziegler-69f481de5230a5d9cd45b8da9503672f
= new reply since forum marked as read
or "who's doing the raping" according to MAGA leader Trump. Yeah, good thing their party is keeping rapists out of America. 
Earlier this year, DeSantis appointed her to the special taxing district he and the legislature created to run the property around Disney World after the state took it over during a feud between the company and the governor. Ziegler has repeated DeSantis’s criticisms about Disney, claiming that the company’s content “sexualizes” children.
As a school board member, she has ordered the removal of posters that gave information about starting Gay-Straight Alliance groups, according to another board member, Tom Edwards. She also refused to support a fellow school board member who was being called a “groomer” and other slurs at a school board meeting earlier this year, Edwards said.
“I asked her to stop it, but she said no, this is free speech,” said Edwards, the only gay person on the board. “I had to shut it down because it was language that I didn’t want my LGBTQ+ students and their friends and their parents and my community to think was acceptable or true. She wouldn’t stop it, so I walked out.”
Bridget Ziegler was also instrumental in advising legislators on the Parental Rights in Education law, derided by critics as the “don’t say gay,” law, which prohibits classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues. She was with DeSantis when he signed the law.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/12/02/florida-gop-chairman-rape-allegation/
https://archive.ph/Hhepf
...said Kitara Ravache while holding a fake baby on board a flight from D.C. to NYC. "And I know all about lies."
The Sarasota County Police Department confirms to PEOPLE that there is an active investigation into Christian Ziegler
By Virginia Chamlee
Updated on November 30, 2023 06:21PM EST
Christian Ziegler, the head of Florida's Republican Party, is under criminal investigation following an allegation of sexual battery, the Sarasota County Police Department confirms to PEOPLE.
His accuser claims that she'd been in a consenting three-way sexual relationship with Christian and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, for some time leading up to the incident, according to the Florida Center for Government Accountability.
While Christian chairs the Florida GOP, Bridget sits on Sarasota County's school board and co-founded the far-right group Moms for Liberty, an organization that advocates against any mention of LGBTQ rights, race, ethnicity, critical race theory, or discrimination in school curriculum. Though no longer with Moms for Liberty, Bridget was one of the driving forces behind Florida's divisive "Don't Say Gay" legislation.
A heavily redacted report provided by the Sarasota PD reveals that an anonymous person accused Christian — whose name is concealed on the document — of sexual battery on Oct. 4 at a home in Sarasota. The word "raped" is included in the report, though its context is also redacted.
https://people.com/florida-gop-chair-christian-ziegler-sexual-battery-investigation-8409160
