Christian Ziegler, the Florida GOP chairman, was under scrutiny in October 2023 following a rape complaint, and now the inquiry is being expanded.
As local Tampa Bay outlets reported, investigators are now trying to determine whether he engaged in video voyeurism by covertly filming the victim throughout the sexual encounter.
Police documents show that Ziegler, the woman he allegedly raped, and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, had a previous consensual sexual affair.
The woman and the Zieglers had arranged to have a sexual encounter that day, according to police, but Bridget Ziegler was not able to attend.
According to the complainant, Christian Ziegler showed up on October 2nd nonetheless, and he brutally attacked her. Two days later, the incident was reported to the authorities.
Ziegler brought up the footage in an interview with investigators that took place on November 2nd. According to him, he erased it and then restored it shortly after the rape accusation.
Ziegler allegedly handed police the 2.5-minute footage of the encounter, according to the December 8 search request. He claimed it was consensual. Earlier that day, Ziegler’s Instagram account was given access to the court. According to Derek Byrd, Ziegler’s attorney, in a message made using ‘disappear mode,’ the victim questioned whether Ziegler had shared the footage with his wife.
According to the report, neither Bridget Ziegler nor the alleged victim (whose name has been obscured in police documents) claimed to be aware of or have seen the video in question.
Ziegler has not been charged, according to the police.
Florida law defines video voyeurism as the unlawful recording of another person’s clothing, undressing, or private body parts in a public or private area where the subject has an adequate expectation of privacy for the purpose of gratification, profit, degrading, or amusement, without the subject’s consent.
