FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The chairman of Florida's Republican Party says he will not resign over a woman's accusation that he raped her. He says in an email to supporters that he is innocent. He did not elaborate on the specifics of the accusation that has roiled the state's conservative politics.
Christian Ziegler sent the statement to Republicans on Saturday, saying he and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, are being targeted because they are “such loud political voices.” His wife co-founded the conservative group Moms for Liberty, which has led a campaign with Gov. Ron DeSantis to roll back sex education in Florida schools.
DeSantis said last week that while Christian Ziegler is innocent until proven guilty, he should resign to avoid becoming a distraction to their party. Ziegler insists he won't quit.
“We have a country to save and I will not allow false accusations of a crime to put that mission on the bench while I wait for this process to conclude,” wrote Ziegler, 40. He was a longtime Republican activist who rose to the top of the Republican Party. the state party's top post in February.
No charges have been filed against Ziegler, but the Sarasota Police Department investigation remains open. The accuser, who has known Christian Ziegler for 20 years, told police in October that he forced his way into her apartment and raped her, according to search warrant affidavits filed by police.
In his email on Saturday, Ziegler did not elaborate on the fact that he had told investigators that he had had sex with the woman, but that it was consensual. He also did not speak to his wife and told investigators that the couple and the woman had had group sex once more than a year ago.
“My family is very strong. My wife is behind me 150% and we have methods to protect our (three) children, just as we have done in all previous attacks we have faced,” Christian Ziegler wrote. The Zieglers did not return phone calls and text messages seeking further comment on Sunday.
DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern did not return a call and text message Sunday seeking comment on Ziegler's refusal to resign.
Police testimony that the Zieglers had group sex with a woman has led Democrats and gay rights leaders to accuse the couple of hypocrisy, as an organization Bridget Ziegler co-founded — Moms for Liberty — has joined DeSantis and the Florida GOP committed to reducing it. LGBTQ+ causes.
Bridget Ziegler is also an elected member of the Sarasota County School Board and was appointed by DeSantis to the board that now oversees Walt Disney World's land development. DeSantis pushed legislation last year to dissolve a Disney-controlled board after the company opposed his bill limiting sex education in schools.
The rape allegation against Christian Ziegler became public last week after the Florida Center for Government Accountability, an investigative news organization, obtained a police report and search warrant affidavits detailing the allegations.
The accuser's name is redacted in the documents. The Associated Press does not name possible victims of sexual violence without their permission.
According to the text messages cited in the affidavit, the woman and the Zieglers planned to have group sex again on October 2, but the woman backed out after Bridget Ziegler “couldn't make it.”
The woman says she found Christian Ziegler in the hallway of her apartment later that day, and he pushed her inside and then raped her.
In text and phone conversations monitored by investigators, Ziegler offered the woman “financial assistance” before he suspected they were being recorded.
In a Nov. 2 interview with detectives, Ziegler said the sex was consensual and that he recorded it. He said he deleted the video and then recovered it after the rape allegation came to light.
Detectives seized Christian Ziegler's phone on Nov. 2, the affidavits say. None of what they found has been made public.
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Associated Press reporter Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.