Jacob Ogles
Sarasota Police obtained a sex video recorded by Republican Party of Florida Chair Christian Ziegler. Sources close to a rape investigation say the evidence contradicts some parts of an accuser’s claims.
Sarasota Police, after obtaining a search warrant, secured video from Ziegler’s Google Drive. The Florida Center for Government Accountability (FLCGA), which broke the news Ziegler was under criminal investigation for rape, now cites law enforcement sources who say the video shows a different series of events than initially described by the accuser.
According to The Florida Trident, the media arm for the FLCGA, law enforcement sources have a more complete picture of events on Oct. 2. A cell phone video taken by Ziegler shows him having sex with the woman in her apartment, the sources said.
At one point, the woman verbally communicates with Ziegler about the sex act in detail. According to the reporting, the sources said “the sex act is brief in duration and the victim can be heard telling Ziegler to climax in her mouth rather than on her new shirt.”
Relevant to a rape charge, police now have surveillance video that shows Ziegler knocking on the door to get into her apartment and being allowed in. Later, video shows the two left the apartment about the same time, with the woman crossing the street to get food around the same time Ziegler’s truck is seen leaving the complex.
Florida Politics has not independently confirmed the report.
The new video evidence conflicts with details previously included in an affidavit and search warrant made public last week. According to those documents, the woman told police Ziegler arrived at her door and entered when she opened it to walk her dog.
Of course, other communication already made public still could generate problems for Ziegler. It also remains unclear whether Ziegler had permission to film the encounter.
While the woman said she arranged to have sex that day with Christian Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler, texts sent to Christian Ziegler shortly before the meeting show she tried to call the tryst off.
The messages obtained by police show Christian Ziegler the day of the meeting informed the woman only he would be coming to the apartment. She responded at 2:24 p.m., “Sorry I was mostly in for her.” Christian Ziegler showed up at the apartment anyway. Security footage shows his truck arriving at her complex at 2:29 p.m., about five minutes after her text.
The woman told police two days after the event she had been raped by Christian Ziegler, something she first told her sister, who called police. Records show she told investigators she had been drinking tequila all day when Christian Ziegler came to her apartment and she “was not in a place to consent.”
The location where the accuser told police the sex occurred, at a bar stool in her apartment, lines up with the description of the video given to the Trident.
On Oct. 27, police recorded a conversation between the woman and Christian Ziegler where she said she was “not okay with what happened the other day between us” and “that was not cool and you didn’t bring her and then did that to me.”
Christian Ziegler admitted to police he was involved in the sexual encounter, and Bridget Ziegler separately admitted to being involved in a prior tryst with her husband and the woman. But Christian Ziegler maintained the sex on Oct. 2 was consensual.
The sex scandal has generated significant turmoil with Florida Politics, with Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott among the elected officials calling for Christian Ziegler to resign as Chair of the Republican Party of Florida. To date, Ziegler has rebuffed all such calls.
The executive committee for the state party plans to meet in Orlando later this month to start a disciplinary process that could result in his expulsion. Many party members tell Florida Politics the Zieglers’ admission of prior three-way trysts is reason enough to remove him as Chair.
Two members of the Sarasota County School Board have also called for Bridget Ziegler to resign her elected position. She has also parted ways with the Leadership Institute, where she was national director of School Board Programs for the conservative think tank.
30 comments
My Take
December 8, 2023 at 12:12 am
If only it had been a cheap $2 China thŕowaway shirt.
My Take
December 8, 2023 at 12:21 am
DeSSwinetis A-Listers !
No wonder the evilvangelicals prefer even Trump. At least it’s one-at-time Trumpy.* And cheating on his wife, not with his wife.
(*Except maybe Putin’s Golden Girls)
PeterH
December 8, 2023 at 1:06 am
I need to take a shower!
Sonja Fitch
December 8, 2023 at 3:30 am
Lordy Lordy. This is just another perversion by the crazy self righteous cult. Get out Desantis! Desantis you supported this perversion ! Yeah Desantis you did! Get out Desantis!
Impeach Biden
December 8, 2023 at 5:46 am
But you are just fine with Kamala “blowing” herself into politics. Then there is the son of “Dementia” Joe snorting coke and banging whores. He even has a “pole” kid now. Then there is Billy Clinton, Kennedy and others. On a local level we even have the fake scientist “Rebekah Jones” who liked playing around with college students, having a kid and even some revenge porn web site. Don’t get me wrong, Ziegler is done but hypocrisy is on full display here.
Otis
December 8, 2023 at 7:08 am
Or, Dennis Hastert. The longest serving House speaker and Republicans. And, convicted child pedo/rapist. or, Mark Foley another fine Florida boy and republican, not unlike yourself. He was caught doing what again? Or, the Trump campaign leader from Oklahoma that was caught underage sex trafficking boys. Or, the other Trump campaign worker In Minnesota who just got a long sentence for trafficking young girls. Want me to go on? Ok. Cobb county gop chair (newts district) who was convicted and sent to life in 2017 for yep… Diddling boys. Or Newt himself, a fine Christian man. Who was cheating on his 2nd wife with his 3rd wife in the parking lot of the oncology ward getting blown by his wife (and total skank) who would later go on to be the ambassador to the Vatican (which, totally tracks). Want me to keep going? There’s no shortage of stories from the “moral majority” that are really nothing more than an oral majority. Most of us are sick of it, But, if you’re gonna call out people, so am I. And I can keep going. So, if that’s all ya got, take the L. Because the odds that coke wasn’t involved in this threesome is so minimal… let’s face it, it’s involved in most. And these people are scum of the worst type. And I can;t wait to watch them squirm. They’re so anti LGBTQ huh? Or maybe just anti anti uh… T? TQ? I don’t know… I’m not that into the whole thing. Are you? Anyway, here is a list of 48 pages of sourced and proven cases that another person has compiled of Republican creeps, weirdos and actual groomers.Check it out, you might know some of them.
https://www.dailykos.com/history/user/CajsaLilliehook
Conservative always
December 8, 2023 at 10:51 am
Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Ed Buck, Jeffry Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Gary Condit, John Edwards, Eric Massa, Anthony Weiner, David Wu, Al Franken, really shall I go on?
Otis
December 8, 2023 at 12:45 pm
republicans still have them beat. By a lot. And they are the ones telling everyone what to do and how moral they are. That’s what really gets annoying. Otherwise 80% of people wouldn’t care. John Edward’s was a real low life. I can’t even fathom the depravity it takes to look someone who has stood by you your whole life in the eye and lie to them while they’re dying. It’s a shame he didn’t get convicted just for the sake of being a scumbag. But, unlike Edward’s, a lot of the republicans on that list were with people who were not at the age of consent. Al Franken is kind of a reach… Cmon. He bowed to the me too pressure. Anytime a politician starts talking about morality, more times than not you can be sure they are not living up to their own standards. Or, at least the standards they have for everyone else.
rick whitaker
December 8, 2023 at 2:58 pm
conservative always, listing dems with bad reps is a whataboutism. in this case the issue is not that both sides have bad actors, but that the conservatives ( maga cultist , gop ) for the most part, cloak themselves in the bible and have an attitude that they are right and the other side is wrong. that in itself is not so bad, but when they refuse to debate or compromise, that is bad. i think they call that sanctimonious . as a maga cultist i wouldn’t expect you to understand. cultist rarely see their cult the way people outside the cult see them. i’m extremely conservative personally when it comes to my personal habits, but i don’t expect others to bow down and take it like your version of conservatism goes. i’m a small and large d democrat. you, based on your comment , are a maga cultist. i am NOT a christian, so i am quick to judge and condemn people i consider a threat to me. BTW putting the word ” always ” in your name is a confinng concept, just like christianity ususally is.
My Take
December 9, 2023 at 1:08 am
GOP Restroom Romancer Sen. Craig.
GOP Tallahassee Toilet Tryster Harold Carswell.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 11:23 am
I have to agree with you, IB, the private lives of elected officials are none of our business.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 11:46 am
Provided, of course, no crime has taken place. Until or if it is shown that a crime has been committed, they are innocent until proven guilty. They are already guilty of being hypocrites, but there’s nothing illegal about being a hypocrite.
Claire
December 8, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Totally agree with you on this.
Although I think it’s one thing to take a stand against kids being exposed to porn or inappropriate material for their age/maturity level, and it’s another thing entirely to discreetly engage in threesomes with your spouse.
Married couples who engage in lawful activities together behind closed doors, are not hypocrites just because they don’t want their kids being exposed to material depicting those same activities at school.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 5:18 pm
Claire, the Zieglers’ agenda includes attacks on adult LGBTQ+ citizens’ rights. That means Bridget Ziegler has attacked the rights of lesbians while engaging in lesbian sex. And that is hypocritical.
My Take
December 9, 2023 at 2:30 am
They are already guilty of being hypocrites, but there’s nothing illegal about being a hypocrite.
======
Meaning no trial or criminal penelty òr to be fair even calling for such.
BUT that does not mean that ridicule is somehow out of order. Depending on the degree of hypocrisy, even strong public ridicule. That is not illegal eithèr (if done carefully).
Ron Jeremy
December 8, 2023 at 5:51 am
It’s NOT a police video, it’s a homemade porno made by the chair of the GOP.l that was uploaded to a cloud drive.
What was next pornhub? His own onlyfans site?
These hypocrites are terrible people, and should retire to mutual masturbating in their basements. End of story.
Otis
December 8, 2023 at 7:39 am
Scared of some facts that don’t align with your narrative? Where’s my post?
Tom
December 8, 2023 at 8:24 am
Hey hon … you know it’s my birthday today. How about we go out to dinner and maybe a little ziegler after the kids have gone to bed.
Nothing like being famous for all the wrong reasons. Florida never disappoints.
Richard C Russell
December 8, 2023 at 10:00 am
Jumping to conclusions as to guilt before all the facts are revealed is a Democrap approach. Aren’t Republicans expected to be above that? Whatever, threesomes are not exactly what you would expect from people who tout such high morals. How does that go: “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 11:35 am
I don’t like what they stand for publicly, but to be fair, I don’t see why the Zieglers’ private sex life is important. Even if it seems hypocritical. As long as they aren’t bribing or being bribed with sex, or blackmailing or being blackmailed — as long as it remains unrelated to what they do as politicians or public service employees.
The public, the voters, need to be aware that any holier-than-thou politicians who try to tell others how to live, who tell some people that their sexuality is ungodly, who censor and condemn and call others “groomers,” are also human beings — human beings in power — and as such are more than capable of lying, cheating, hurting others for political gain, drinking, smoking pot, and yes, banging around.
Voters who believe everything coming out of politicians’ mouths — from the Left or Right — are suckers, fools, or blind followers. Mr. Russell, you and I don’t agree on many things, but I think you would agree with this last point.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 11:51 am
Mr. Ziegler is innocent of rape until proven guilty, of course. And everyone writing here needs to hold back judgement on that issue. Too much of the anger here is related to the hypocrisy of the Zieglers engaging in three-way sex, with Bridget Ziegler obviously having lesbian sex while at the same time publicly condemning LGBTQ+ persons. She is guilty of being a hypocrite, but there’s no law against that. Imagine how many prisons we’d have to build if it was illegal to be a hypocrite.
Sonja Fitch
December 8, 2023 at 11:27 am
The final video proved the allegations . Your title is misleading. Read the at again.
TJC
December 8, 2023 at 11:40 am
If rape is proven, then that’s a crime and Mr. Ziegler will have to do the time. But if it turns out that he is found to be innocent of rape, or sexual assault of any level, then it’s just another case of people in power saying this is okay for me but not for you. And as much as I abhor everything that Bridget Ziegler stands for, the fact remains she did nothing illegal, she just had lesbian sex (privately) while condemning lesbians (publicly). It’s not illegal to be a hypocrite.
rick whitaker
December 8, 2023 at 3:33 pm
tjc, when you’re out raising money for a group, org., or candidate, like bridget is or was doing, optics are more important than legalities. trump is a good example. when a married preacher gets caught in a whorehouse, that’s bad optics. remember the jimmy swaggart scenario ?
Claire
December 8, 2023 at 9:29 pm
Where did Ziegler condemn lesbians? I have not seen that anywhere.
Joe
December 13, 2023 at 11:36 am
LGBTQ-bashing is her entire raison d’etre. You should pull your head out of that Fox hole in the ground now and then, Claire.
rick whitaker
December 13, 2023 at 12:27 pm
claire, i agree with joe concerning your stupid comment. i have an aunt named claire living in florida, is that you?
My Take
December 10, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Any video of the threesome?
THAT would be marketable.
Ellen deggenerous
December 19, 2023 at 7:59 pm
Yummy yum yum
Spunky McFarlane
December 19, 2023 at 7:50 pm
I’d pay to see Bridget Ziegler rug munching!
Comments are closed.