Dec. 2 (UPI) — A newly unsealed police affidavit had shed more insight into an ongoing sexual assault investigation against Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler.
A redacted 26-page affidavit released Friday revealed police have now recovered video of an Oct. 2 sexual encounter between Ziegler and a woman he has known for several years. It states Ziegler previously attempted to erase the footage but it was later recovered by police after being stored online.
Authorities alleged in the affidavit that the encounter was initially intended to also involve Ziegler’s wife Bridget, who at the last minute was unable to attend, and claims that Chrisitan Ziegler went to the woman’s apartment alone, where she says he assaulted her.
The woman told police she informed Ziegler she was not interested in an encounter without his wife.
The Zieglers had previous three-person sexual encounters with the woman who filed the complaint, investigators claimed.
Through his lawyer, Ziegler contends the sex at the Sarasota apartment was consensual.
Police were first notified of the allegations on Oct. 4, while the victim said she told her sister she’d been raped by Ziegler. She had a rape kit conducted at a hospital, according to the affidavit, which police filed in seeking further information on Ziegler’s phone.
“I’m not ok with what happened the other day between us,” the woman later texted Ziegler according to the affidavit, which does include the terms “raped” and “sexually battered.”
Ziegler’s lawyer confirmed to the Washington Post Thursday that a police investigation into his client was underway.
Bridget Ziegler is the co-founder of the conservative political organization Moms for LIberty. Her husband was elected to serve as Sarasota County’s State Committeeman in 2012 and re-elected without opposition in 2016.
Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried and Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have called for Ziegler to resign.