Florida GOP chairman recorded graphic video of his encounter with woman accusing him of rape: report

Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler recorded a graphic video of himself engaged in a sex act with the woman accusing him of rape, according to a report and a police affidavit. 

Ziegler shot the video on his cell phone after he showed up at the woman’s apartment alone on Oct. 2, according to the Florida Trident. He claims the activity was consensual.

Ziegler’s accuser is seen “bent over a piece of furniture in the bedroom” and heard telling the Florida GOP chairman to “climax in her mouth rather than on her new shirt,” in the short video, sources to the outlet. 

As part of the criminal investigation into the Sunshine State GOP chair, the Sarasota Police Department is now in possession of that video recording.

The GOP leader’s wife, Bridget Ziegler, confirmed to Sarasota police that she and her husband had previously had a consensual three-way sexual encounter with the alleged rape victim, a woman whom Christian Ziegler has known for 20 years, the affidavit shows. 

“Sorry I was mostly in for her,” the accuser told Christian Ziegler in a text message the day of the alleged rape, referring to Bridget, according to the affidavit. 

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The message came after the Florida GOP chairman asked the alleged victim for her address, and informed her that it was “prob just me this time” because his wife was no longer free to participate in the tryst. 

Surveillance video from the apartment shows Ziegler knocking on the alleged victim’s door and walking inside, according to the Florida Trident, which appears to contradict at least part of the woman’s version of events. 

“The victim opened her apartment door to walk her dog and Christian was standing outside in the hallway,” the Sarasota police affidavit reads. “Christian entered the apartment, bent the victim over the bar stool and vaginally penetrated her with his penis.” 

Both the woman and the Florida GOP chair exit the apartment together after the alleged rape, with surveillance footage reportedly showing Ziegler returning to his pickup truck and the woman walking across the street to get food. 

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With detectives listening in, the alleged victim contacted Ziegler weeks after their encounter, telling him, “I’m not okay with what happened the other day between us.” 

“Oh. That’s not good,” Ziegler responded, according to the affidavit. “You are my friend. Known ya for like twenty years now; Lol.”

“Yeah I know, but that was not cool and you didn’t bring her and did that to me,” the accuser replied. 

“[Bridget] was in. Then couldn’t because no response,” Ziegler said. “She said in next time. But I understand. Your [sic] my friend I actually like you as a person, so sorry you got upset, but can leave you alone if you prefer.” 

When the alleged victim told Ziegler in one of the controlled calls with law enforcement that he sexually assaulted her, he responded by saying, “Those are big words, please don’t, no I didn’t. You invited me in, that’s it. I did not at all, and I never want you to feel that way.”

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Ziegler, who is facing mounting calls for his resignation, maintains that he had consensual sex with the woman on the day of the alleged rape. 

The Republican Party of Florida is holding an emergency meeting Sunday where a vote on whether to force Ziegler out as chairman is expected to take place. 

“I don’t see how we can continue with that investigation ongoing, given the gravity of those situations. I think he should step aside,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier this month. “I think he should tend to that.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R), Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R), the Pinellas County GOP have also called for Ziegler’s resignation.

“This is the topic of every water-cooler conversation and every lunchroom conversation,” state Rep. Spencer Roach, (R-North Fort Myers) told the New York Times Monday. “People are befuddled and bewildered and frustrated.”

“These people for years have held themselves as paragons of Christian conservative values,” Roach added, referring to Ziegler and his wife. “This is a huge breach of trust.”

Bridget Ziegler, a DeSantis-endorsed member of the Sarasota School Board and co-founder of parental rights group Moms for Liberty, may learn her fate on the school board on Tuesday, when a meeting on whether to recommend that she step down from her post will take place, according to Politico. 

She has reportedly already left her post as the director of school board programs for the Leadership Institute, a conservative nonprofit, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Christian and Bridget Ziegler did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.