Christian and Bridget Ziegler & The Swinging World of Florida Politics

0:00 [MUSIC] The high power world of Florida politics. For the chairman of the Republican Party, Christian Ziegler, and his wife Bridget, life could not get much better. [MUSIC] That is until October 4th of 2023. [MUSIC] An unnamed victim reported Christian Ziegler, her friend of 20 years, had raped her.

0:40 [MUSIC] The subsequent investigation revealed shocking revelations of a sex field underworld, in which Christian and his beautiful, statue-esque, blonde wife Bridget, herself, the founder of the nonprofit Moms for Liberty, in a school board member in Sarasota County, participated. [MUSIC] Welcome to Exposed, the scandalous files of the elite, Christian and Bridget Ziegler, in the swinging world of Florida politics.

1:21 [MUSIC] Now, before we get into this series, I do want to mention again, this case has not been adjudicated. That's the legalese that we have to put in the beginning of many of these episodes. Some have been adjudicated and we just cover the facts. We're going to cover the accusations in this case. I like to jump right into these. However, I do want to mention the Vince McMahon series.

2:03 I just want to thank everyone that listened to that series. That was the first series in the Exposed, scandalous files of the elite podcast, and it is just on fire. Y'all responded, you shared it and did all the things that helped to build podcast. I want to thank each and every one of you for your comments and your shares. Let's get into it. We're going to start this series off. The first person I'm going to tell you all about is Christian Ziegler. At the time that these accusations came out was the chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Let me tell you all about the Florida Republican Party real quick. It controls really the majority of Florida's US house seats.

2:49 Both the US Senate seats, the governorship, and they have supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature. So they're very powerful, extremely powerful in the state of Florida. And Christian Ziegler, he was the chairman. And I say was the chairman because he has been removed, but he started his chairmanship in the Florida Republican Party on February 12, of 2023. And he held that seat until January 8, of 2024, just a couple of weeks ago, when he was removed from office by the party.

3:29 And we're going to tell you why today. If you thought the Vince McMahon story was crazy, this is up there with it. Christian Ziegler, he was born in North Georgia just outside of Atlanta in May of 1983. So he's a younger guy. He graduated from Florida State University in 2005. Initially, he worked for a guy by the name of Vernon Buchanan for the US House of Representatives in his campaign. That was in 2006. And Buchanan actually won his seat. Ziegler was a legislative aide for Buchanan. And then in 2012, Ziegler ran for a position on the Republican Party of Florida State Committee.

4:14 And he represented Sarasota County in 2017. He ran for chairman of the State Party, but he did lose that election to the incumbent. And in November 2018, he was actually elected to the County Commission of Sarasota County. So he's heavy into politics, right? He is 41 years old. Young guy, he's just killing it out there in politics and his life is getting better and better. And in early 2019, he was actually endorsed by Corey Lewandowski, Ziegler won that vice chairmanship and occupied that office from 2019 to 2023.

4:57 So that's just a little bit about Christian Ziegler. He's powerful in Florida. And that's important in this story. And now we're going to talk a little bit about his wife and his personal life and his wife, who plays a big part in this story is Bridget Ziegler. Bridget Ziegler, no stranger to politics herself. She co-founded what's known as mom's for liberty. It's an organization in Florida that promotes constitutionalism and things of that nature. And she co-founded that, a big deal in Florida. And she also served on the Sarasota County school board.

5:38 Bridget Ziegler, the first thing that stands out about her, she's absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, really. Head Turner. And that is going to play a part in this story. So the Zieglers move about life. They get married. It's a great life. They have a lot of power. They're going to all these political events. Rubbin Elbows, and really sitting down with and having discussions with Ron DeSantis, who was the Florida governor, and was a candidate for president until just recently. And just life couldn't be better. After they got married, they had three children.

6:21 They were known as just a power couple in the state of Florida. [MUSIC] Everything was great until October 4th of 2023. When the police get a 911 call from a friend of a yet unnamed accuser. [MUSIC] And so before we get into the allegations and the investigation, I'm going to play that 911 call for you.

7:13 This is a friend of the accuser calling the Sarah Set of Police Department regarding conducting a welfare check on a friend of hers, who she was very concerned about. You can hear the concern in her voice. And here's that 911 call. [MUSIC] 911, what's location of the emergency? I was hoping to do a wellness on a friend of mine. She hasn't shown up for work the past two days and I just got off the phone with her and she sounds drunk and I know that she has pain medication on her and she told me that she doesn't think she can do it anymore.

8:02 Okay, what is it? And, hold on, she just texted it to me. [BLANK_AUDIO] What city is this? What was that? What city is this? I'm Sarah Soda. What unit? And what's the name of the complex? Oh crap, it's um. But you don't know, that's okay, ma'am. Okay, I think. Okay, what is the phone that we are trying to find? My phone number is... Okay, tell me exactly what happened. So, this friend of mine, she has struggled with addiction for a while and it's just gotten worse and worse.

8:50 A couple months it, but you can tell me if you want to talk to anyone else, you want to answer anyone else at work except for me. But she told me she was raped yesterday and that she's scared to leave her house. And I told her that I was going to come pick her up and we could take her to the ER, but I just... I'm scared that her issues were just... And now today she's saying she can't do anymore? Yes. Do you know if she... Do you know if she's... I don't, I asked her if she was drinking and she said she wasn't, but she's swearing her words and she's really not making sense. Um, I know her kids, but they're not home right now.

9:33 But she said she's scared that the person who raped her came to her house and she's scared to leave. So, I don't... I just... Okay. And I mean, I've wanted to go through with... I've looked into the process of having her Baker acted. I just don't... I don't know. Okay. I'm worried about her right now. Okay. Yeah, I have a unit somewhere out. How long ago was the threat? Um, I just got off the phone with her before I called you. So, within an hour...

10:15 Um, maybe 30... 30 minutes? Yes, 30 minutes ago. Do you know how she wants to hurt herself? How she... How she hurt herself? Do you know how she wants to? Um, no, she's just saying life's too hard. But I know she has prescription pain killers, so that kind of worries me. Okay. Were any weapons involved? No. What is... She went back to her Hispanic. She's white.

10:56 A little blonde lady. Can you spell her wasm to fix her? Yes. Is that she's white? How old is she? Um... About a tallie. Uh, she's like, I don't know, 5-3 maybe. She's in, me and my heavy-zulbs. She's... Okay. So, would you help on them? Her cellphone? Yes. One second, let me. Um, her number is... And she's not her address now, right?

11:36 Yes. She's got her apartment. She thinks that I'm plumbing to pick her up. But... She needs more help than I can do. I can help her with. Yes. Okay. Have you been in some route? Does she own a vehicle? Yes. I don't know the exact model. And are you going to be meeting us there or do you want to call back with her's old? I mean, should I? Oh, would you... It's up to you, ma'am. That's your call, right? We can't tell you if you can or not. It's up to you. If you're going to meet with them, I'll let them know. But you don't have to. It's up to you. No, I think... I think this needs to be handled by someone that she doesn't know or the story.

12:17 Do you want to call back with her's old? From the unit? Yes. Okay. What's your address just so... Or is it the unit? No. What is your name, ma'am? Can your PPC address that we're going to? And just to clarify, she's not talking to you right now, correct? No. I just hung up with her before I called you. And then she texted me her address. Okay. Just call back to be it more information I have units in route to this address. Okay. Just call 911 again. I can give you an on emergency number. Okay. Let me... Okay. And what's your name?

12:58 Hailey. Hailey? Okay. So then will the police are on their way there now? Yes ma'am. Okay. And then... Right, so I'm getting the pen. Okay. All right. And then... Not an emergency number? Yes. If you have more information. Yeah. Tell me when you're ready. I'm ready. 941. Mm-hmm. 316. 1201. And it's option 0. 1201. Option 0. Okay. And then so... Yes.

13:38 I did put the you want to call back with the result. Okay. So they should be calling you soon. You think she'll be very good after? I don't know. Sure. I don't know how they do it because I'm not an officer. Okay. But they can... You can ask them that when they do call for you. Okay. Is there any... All right. Can I help you with them? No. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Have a good day. You too. Bye. So the police go to check on that victim and conduct that welfare check on October 4th of 2023. And the...

14:18 We're going to refer to her as the victim. And the victim reported that she had been sexually assaulted by Christian Ziegler on October 2nd of 2023. So just a few days prior to that welfare check and that report. So the victim gets treated and she's examined at Sarah Sodom Memorial Hospital where a sexual assault kit was completed. So the police start investigating. And on October 5th of 23, they start that investigation and it reveals the following.

14:59 The victim and Christian Ziegler, they... they realize after talking to the victim, they've known each other for actually 20 years. On October 2nd, according to the victim, herself and Christian Ziegler agreed to have a sexual encounter. However, that sexual encounter included Christian's wife, Bridget Ziegler. When the victim will arm that Bridget could not make it, she changed her mind and she canceled that encounter with Christian. The victim then opened her door, her apartment door to walk her dog and Christian. He's standing there outside in the hallway.

15:42 So he enters the apartment, bends the victim over the bar stool and vaginally penetrates her with his penis. It's important to give some context to this. The victim said that she and Christian and Bridget were sexually involved one time, over a year prior to this incident at their house. The victim stated that when Christian came over, she was not in a place to consent because it was her day off and she had been drinking. Look, let's talk about that for a second.

16:25 When you are drunk above the legal limit in the state of Florida, as it is where I record in the state of Louisiana, you cannot consent to sex when you are above the legal limit automatically. That's in the law. So if you're drunk, you can't say yes, I want to have sex technically without it being rape according to the law. So that's an important part of this story. She said she had been drinking tequila all day. This is what she told the police. She called her twin sister and told her twin sister that she was raped immediately. Her sister goes to the victim's house, of course.

17:08 You got a twin sister and you call about something like that. They're going to drop everything and go to your house. So detective Zing, go talk to the sister to verify that. They interview her and she confirms that the victim did call her and told her she was raped but she never said who did it. She said my sister was very emotional and distraught and I asked and she just wouldn't tell me who did it. So the police have all this information and on October 24th of 2023, they get and view the video surveillance footage from the victim's apartment complex.

17:48 I say it a lot of times on some of my other podcasts, you are on video like 50 times a day no matter where you are in the world. You're passing surveillance equipment and of course many apartments nowadays have surveillance equipment. So the detectives, you know, subpoenaed that video surveillance footage, they get it and footage captures Christian Ziegler arriving in a gray Ford truck. His license plates visible so they know it's, they know it's him. Christian immediately enters that apartment complex and he is seen coming off an elevator and driving away about 37 minutes after he entered that apartment.

18:35 They even note his clothing. He was wearing dark shorts and a red shirt. And as part of that investigation, detectives perform what's known as a digital extraction of the victim's cell phone. They're at the point of the investigation. This victim is saying, you know, we've known each other 20 years. I had a threesome with him and his wife prior to this and I have, you know, things on my cell phone that will verify that. And so they do. They perform a digital extraction of that cell phone and they locate several text messages from Christian to the victim on October 2nd of 2023.

19:18 In the messages, Christian tells the victim to go to Instagram when they asked a victim about this, she said that Christian like to use Instagram because he can seals the messages using what's known as vanish mode. And when you use vanish mode, basically if you text something as soon as the person reads it, it disappears and there's no permanent record of that supposedly. In another message, he asked the victim for her address and told her they were driving around and he was referring to himself and Bridget. And he continued sending the victim's messages. But at that, she didn't really respond timely.

20:00 And when the victim finally responded, she asked who was coming. And who's coming to this threesome, right? Christian responds probably just me this time. So detectives, they continue to investigate. Now on October 27th, guess what? He was learned that Christian is trying to contact the victim again through Instagram. This is well after the rape. He doesn't realize this investigation is even going on at this point.

20:40 And he hits her up on Instagram and she was able to use an app to actually record the messages. I'm going to give you a summary of that communication. The victim says, I'm not okay with what happened the other day between us. And Christian says, Oh, that's not good. You're my friend. I've known you for like 20 years now, laugh out loud.

21:21 And the victim says, Yeah, I know. But that was not cool. And you didn't bring her and then did that to me. And Christian responds, she was in, then couldn't she said next time, but I understand you're my friend. I actually like you as a person. So sorry you got upset, but I can leave you alone if you prefer. And then he kind of tries to change the subject and starts discussing getting his hair cut. And the victim says, I don't know if I can do that anymore after what you did to me last time. It freaked me out. And she's referring to having a threesome again.

22:04 And Christian said, Okay, well, sorry, not the intention. I want you to be happy and not have drama. You have dealt with enough bullshit. And then he again kind of tries to change the subject by talking about getting your hair cut. And the victim says, I have not been able to work since you came over. And Christian responds, I'm pretty loyal to my friends tried to call hard to text. How can I help? And the victim responds, I really can't even talk to you right now. So during the messaging, Christian continuously asks how he could help. And the victim responds, you cause this?

22:45 You can't help me. And Christian repeatedly refers to the victim as his friends. And that's, y'all, that's an effort to kind of minimize the situation. He's deflecting, right? And he would deflect. And every time she would bring up that rape, he would basically try to change the subject. You can talk about his, you know, him getting his hair cut and things of that nature. And the victim says, I'd prefer you to tell me why you think what you did was okay. And Christian says, where are you? Do you want to meet and chat? I'm worried about you. You're my friend. And the victim says, hell no, not after what you did to me, do you not understand I am terrified of you?

23:32 And Christian responds that he had to go soon. So Christian then begins to call the victim and the audio calls were recorded. Now it's important also mention this in the state of Florida as it is in the state of Louisiana. Both parties don't have to be privy to, to a audio recording. So only one party has to be privy to that. And that's the person doing the recording. So in the first phone call, the victim told Christian he had heard her when he came over and Christian said he did not think that was the case.

24:13 And if she was upset, he didn't warn her upset. And then he tries to change the subject. And the victim, she asked him why he did that. And Christian says he was not trying to start any issues. And she knows who he is. Christian then asked the victim is she wanted him to leave her alone. The victim said she needed him to know that he heard her and Christian responded by saying, look, I'll leave you alone. So I think he was realizing and feeling a little heat. He probably was thinking the more I talk to this girl, the more pissed off she gets. And I'm going to end up in a shitload of trouble if I'm not careful.

24:55 So the investigation continues. This is not your typical situation with people of this stature where you have a woman who is just absolutely gorgeous and powerful and her husband, very powerful guy in the state of Florida. And you're, you know, he's involved in a rape and this person who he raped is basically saying Bridget Ziegler in this case, the wife was having was happy to have these free sums and police are just blown away by this. Oh, November 30th of 2023.

25:38 Guess what? Christian Ziegler's biggest nightmare, the scandal becomes public. And the Florida Trident, which is a new source in the state of Florida that public publishes stories for the Florida Center for Government Accountability reports this whole deck of cards starts to collapse for this power couple. So on December 8th of 2023, police obtained a video, yep, we're getting into video of Christian Ziegler showing that he took video of the sexual encounter with the woman that was accusing him of rape.

26:28 Now in that video, it did confirm some parts of the sexual encounter that took place between the victim and Christian Ziegler, such as the video did show Ziegler having sex with her over a bar stool in that apartment. That couple with the documents that police already had showed that Ziegler and his wife had arranged a threesome the day of the encounter. But the text messages show Christian Ziegler informed the woman by text that Bridget couldn't make it as I told you earlier and the woman did tell him that she was no longer interested.

27:13 As a matter of fact, it was discovered that throughout those text messages, at one point, she says, sorry, I was mostly in for her. I was that for a smack to your pride if your Christian Ziegler basically a woman said if she's not participating, I mean, that's kind of why I wanted to do it. And of course, as I told you earlier, he shows up anyway. And incidentally, that was about five minutes after those texts were taken place. So he was texting her either when he was driving down the road or when he pulled up in the parking lot of that apartment complex. So let's talk about those interviews just for a second of both Bridget and Christian Ziegler.

28:00 So police investigate in one of the things that they had to do was get a search warrant for Christian Ziegler's phone. And when they search that phone, they find not only the victim's name, but the names of several other women. They actually find a folder and that folder was titled the list, quote unquote, the list in that cell phone. Now the victim's name was listed under a subheading and it was labeled something, but in the documents, it just says, exploitive. And all leave it up to your imagination. The exploitive used as the subheading is used to describe sexual intercourse.

28:46 That's what it says in the documents. So after his initial interview with police, which took place on November 1st, they went back and they got a search warrant and they got his phone. And of course, they check that search history and search history will bust your ass every time. So we're going to go through some of the search history that was on Ziegler's phone Christian Ziegler. And interestingly enough, this was right after the police left his house in that initial interview on November 1st, how pre-arrest criminal investigations work, sexual battery settlement average.

29:30 What is the average settlement for a premises liability sexual assault case? Sapena Instagram vanish. So he just like I told you about Instagram vanish earlier, he was freaking out and seeing if they could subpoena that how quick police criminal investigation. He searched accused of sexual battery into a smist. He searched only fans. Interesting. He searched remove subscriptions from list. So he must have searched only fans to pull up the site and then he wanted to remove his subscriptions and then figure out how to remove it from his phone, I guess.

30:18 Sue for false allegations he searched. He searched cost to file a civil lawsuit. He searched how sex crimes are investigated and prosecuted in the state of Florida. He searched chief of serr-soda detectives. He searched what happens when somebody presses charges against you. He searched sexual battery. He searched consent sexual how. Then he searched can vanish my messages be recovered on Instagram. He searched false sexual assault allegation. He searched serr-soda sex crime attorney.

31:01 He searched sexual battery proof and he searched bear day bags for tablets, phones and laptops. Go dark bags. And if you're wondering what bear day bags are, they are bags that actually block. They will block people from being able to get close to your cell phone and actually pull information off of it. With technology these days, there is technology where someone can be close to your cell phone and actually pull information off of it using electromagnetic pulse. So this blocks that. So one thing that police found out when they interviewed Christian Ziegler and Bridges Ziegler was that this relationship wasn't like a one time thing.

31:51 As I mentioned earlier, they had known the victim in this case for some 20 years and they could kind of piece together things just from the interview that they had with both as well as some of the messages that were in that cell phone. And three years prior to all of this going down as a matter of fact, it was February 2nd of 2021, they discovered some messages where Bridges Ziegler and Christian Ziegler were discussing the victim. And the victim had mentioned she had had a three way sexual encounter with the Zieglers in the past. Now in those messages from three years ago, Christian Ziegler tells his wife to come home, stop and pick up blank.

32:38 They were acted it to play again and be crazy. The message appeared to be referring to the victim who Christian Ziegler described as an alcoholic, nice person and has some issues in that text. Bridges Ziegler responded that she prefers confident and power people in Christian Ziegler reply that he liked that blank was close and that there was no drama which turned him on. I just don't want to feel like we ever took advantage of anyone. I know it's always been consensual, but she seems broken or like she's going through some shit.

33:18 Bridges Ziegler responds. And police did note that in that same message thread, Christian Ziegler said they needed to hunt for someone new. Now when police talked to Bridges Ziegler, she confirmed to pass three some with that victim, but told police she never planned to participate in the sexual encounter between her husband and the woman on October 7th of 2023 that led to the rape allegation. Despite testimony from the victim and text messages indicating Ziegler's husband said his wife would be involved. So basically Bridges saying I didn't know anything about the October 2nd incident.

33:58 And that's certainly possible. Christian Ziegler could have just been essentially bullshit in that lady and to think in this three some was planned because I'm sure he knew that she was more interested in his wife than him and was just looking to get some side piece from her and figured he'd just act like, oh, Bridget couldn't come with me. She had something last minute. That's what I would suspect. And if you'll remember, she even told Christian, meaning the victim that she was in it more for Bridget than him. So he probably lied the whole time about Bridges Ziegler being involved.

34:43 Now Christians interview with police. He gave his perspective and he gave a little more background on the relationship that he had with the victim who as we said, he had known for 20 years and he actually met her at a what's known as a joy land music venue, which is in Brandon, Florida. And Christian told police he had consensual sex with the woman approximately a dozen times since they first met and that she had been ever to his house twice for three sums with Bridget. His story is on October 2nd, he knocked on the victim's door and she answered and she told him she had just ordered pizza and was about to pick it up.

35:28 He offered to come back another time, but the victim said, no, you can come in and they engage in small talk in the kitchen entryway. The victim then begins to kiss Christian Ziegler. They then had consensual sex according to Christian Ziegler who also told police he made sure the victim wasn't drunk and specifically asked if she had been drinking or taking pills because he didn't want to get in trouble. I don't know if he sounds to me like he's. I would suspect he's full of shit on that. I don't know that obviously and that's his story and he's sticking to it, but I don't see him going to her house and they're about to hook up and he stops her and says, I don't want to make sure you're not drunk or been taken anything because I don't want to get into trouble.

36:19 I just don't buy that, but that's his story. So, there's all these interviews going on and police go back and they interview the victim again. And in that interview, she mentions that Christian Ziegler had been sexually battering her for years and due to his power in the state of Florida, she felt like she could never say no to him.

37:04 She even mentioned an incident in the past where she said that Christian Ziegler entered her house by climbing through an unlocked window. Now police did know that they were covered a message on Ziegler's phone to the victim that took place on December 16th, 2021 that read, "I can come through window" and basically they said it cooperated the statement that she gave. So if you remember, Christian Ziegler did say that when he went in the house, she said she had just ordered pizza and was going to pick it up.

37:53 And so police visited that pizza place and they remembered the victim coming in on October 2nd and y'all keep in mind that this would have been after that sexual encounter. So they did remember her coming to pick up the pizza and the manager of that pizza restaurant said that she did seem intoxicated. So he cooperated the victim story. Now the biggest problem with the victim story was the fact that there was a major issue there with the truth which never changes and something that police had stone-cold proof that she said happened that did not happen and that was police asked her, "Well why did you let him in the house?" and she said, "I opened the door to let my dog out and walk my dog and he's standing there essentially."

38:50 However, in the footage that police reviewed from that apartment complex, it showed him knocking on the door and her allowing him in the door. There was no dog that was present in that video footage and it showed him knocking. So the truth never changes. Why lie about that? So the pressures on police are investigating all of this and Christian Ziegler and his wife are trying to manage all of these charges and there was a lot of pressure for Bridget Ziegler after these charges came out to resign from the Sarah-Satah school board.

39:35 She refused and it's important to note she wasn't, there was nothing illegal that she was being charged with. Look, it's not illegal to have a threesome. It's not illegal to be married and invite a third party into that. Some people may say there's a moral issue but it's not a legal issue. She did have a lot of pressure surrounding her to resign. So the plot thickened y'all and on December 22nd of 2023, a second Ziegler sex video is discovered.

40:19 And this sex video actually involved Bridget Ziegler and an unidentified woman. The video was extracted from Christian Ziegler's cell phone. They get a search warrant for that Google drive and on that they find a second sex video. But this one is Bridget Ziegler with an unidentified woman, not the victim that I've been referring to in this case. So while this second video did not do anything to verify these rape charges, the Christian Ziegler was facing what they did, what that video did verify was the fact that this couple did participate in what someone called an alternative lifestyle that Bridget Ziegler having thresoms with women were something that did occur and there was proof of that now with this video.

41:19 And at this time Christian Ziegler, he is still holding the title of the Florida chairman, though he still had that title technically, they did strip him of his authority in the Florida GOP and they removed his salary, which was $120,000 for serving on the executive committee. That was about a week prior to finding this video, the second video. The committee also voted unanimously to urge him to resign, even former governor Rick Scott, current governor Ron DeSantis and Congressman Matt Gaetz, all were trying to pressure him to resign.

42:03 But at that point Ziegler said, no, I'm not resigning. So in the meantime, the Sarasota County School Board, they vote four to one to request Bridget Ziegler resign from the school board. And guess what, the one dissenting vote was Bridget Ziegler. Now the ironic thing about all of this y'all is Bridget Ziegler spoke out, you know, she was well known for speaking out against the LGBTQ community in Sarasota.

42:44 Here she is on video having sex with women. And that was, you know, you got to admit there's a lot of irony there. And it was definitely something that her opposition would use against her. I mean, that's about as hypocritical as you can get, right? So we're going to get into 2024 and where this case is now. The primary key components of this investigation is most of this, the majority of this 99% of this is one person's word against another person's word.

43:27 Even though Christian Ziegler had video of this sexual encounter with the victim, there was no part of that video where she was saying no. And he was forcing himself on her. And there was no part of that video where you could really tell that she was drunk, which if you could tell she was drunk in the video, then you could say, well, she couldn't consent, right? So third degree rape at a minimum. But in this case, you couldn't really tell in the video. It was a short video. He's saying it happened, but it was consensual and she's saying it wasn't. And it became one person's word against another.

44:07 So on January 19th of 2024, police decide that Christian Ziegler will not face a rape charge. And I'm just going to inform you a little bit through the article. It says police will not charge Christian Ziegler with rape, but he could still be prosecuted for video recording himself having sex with a woman who had previously had threesomes with the Republican leader and his wife, mom's for Liberty co-founder, Bridget Ziegler. The Sarah said a police department announced it had forwarded findings of a criminal investigation to prosecutors. Police have investigated Christian Ziegler since early October when a Sarah said a woman claimed she had been raped in her apartment.

44:54 When police investigated Ziegler, he produced a two and a half minute video. He had took of the encounter on his cell phone and police say that based on the footage, the sex was likely consensual. But when police showed the video to the woman leveling the accusation, she said Ziegler had filmed the act without her knowledge or consent. That's important, y'all, because you can't do that. That's in Florida, they have a video voyeurism law. They will keep going. The accused are also maintained from the beginning of the investigation she had been drinking before Ziegler shut up in her apartment and forced her to have sex over a bar stool.

45:40 Based on the woman's testimony that she was filmed without permission, police on Friday submitted a probable cause of a David for a charge of video voyeurism. That leaves it to prosecutors whether to pursue criminal charges. When it goes on to say throughout the investigation, the woman told police both Christian and Bridget Ziegler had planned a threesome with her the day of the incident. But when Christian told Bridget he could not attend, the woman canceled and told Christian not to come over. He showed up five minutes later and she told police Ziegler intercepted her at the door. This video later suggested she allowed him into her apartment, just like I told you all.

46:26 During interviews, Bridget Ziegler admitted to investigators that the couple engaged in a threesome with the woman more than a year prior to the incident. The scandal has brought significant political repercussions for the one's powerful couple who have always permitted socially conservative politics. Bridget Ziegler stood by Governor Ron DeSantis as he signed the state's notorious "don't say gay law". Since details of the scandal emerged, the conservative leadership institute parted company with Bridget Ziegler who had been director of the school board's program for the National Group, but she resisted calls for a resignation from the school board.

47:11 They were a Republican party of Florida suspended and later fired Christian Ziegler as state chairman less than a year into his tenure. Ziegler's criminal attorney, Derrick Burr, released a statement saying the investigation's findings prove what the accused maintained the entire time that he was innocent of rape. The police make the decision that we just don't have the evidence to bring this to the district attorney with enough evidence to charge him with the rape where we think we have enough evidence for a conviction.

47:54 However, they definitely have enough evidence for him violating the video "Voluorism Law". So just within a couple of days ago, Christian Ziegler came out and he basically said he wants to use what's known as "Marcie's" and it's spelled "MARSY" apostrophe S, "Marcie's Law". So Ziegler's attorney, which is a guy by the name of Matthew Sarlson sends an email to the City Attorney for Sarasota County. This was on January 30th and he says that Ziegler was falsely accused and therefore a victim whose information should be protected under what's known as "Marcie's" law.

48:42 He says Mr. Ziegler himself had become a victim of a crime as his accuser has filed a false report to law enforcement authorities. That in the state of Florida is a first degree misdemeanor. So let me tell you a little bit about "Marcie's" law. In 2018, Florida voters voted in an adopted "Marcie's" law which gives more rights to crime victims. Among those is the right for crime victims to prevent the disclosure of information that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim's family or that could disclose confidential details about the victim.

49:23 So his point on this is my reputation is ruined because even though the police found that I did not rape this woman, Yonahud is out there. When the news gets out, there's even an accusation of that. A lot of people have a rush to judgment and so he felt like this is a violation of "Marcie's" law and it would appear that it is a violation of "Marcie's" law in Florida. But y'all he's acting like he's totally innocent and he's not totally innocent.

50:03 Even if that rape did not take place and it was consensual, which the police are not saying it didn't take place, they're saying they don't have evidence of it and it's their feeling that it was consensual based off of the video. But only two people know him and her. Video voyeurism in Florida he is certainly, certainly, guilty of. And video voyeurism in Florida is a third degree felony. We avoid your ismage defined as someone who takes video without consent of someone who is dressing undressing or privately exposing the body at a place and time when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy for the purposes of amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification or profit or for the purpose of degrading or abusing another person.

51:09 That is the legal definition of video voyeurism. I would say this qualifies. So that is the most up-to-date information on the case with Christian Zealer. And I'm going to go ahead and wrap this episode up, but I'm just going to give you a final fault on that. And that is, hey, is the lifestyle illegal? No. People have a right to consent with other people in sexual encounters.

51:49 So we, you know, everybody may not agree on whether morally it's right, but legally, nobody berk any laws there. I do see the struggle that the police had with proof of rape. You're trying to substantiate someone's claim. It appears there just was not enough evidence to do that. But here's what I think was the nail on the coffin. And I love y'all's thoughts on this. Here's what I think was the key to unraveling in the police, maybe airing more on the side of Christian Zealer's story than the victims.

52:30 And that is when the proof came out that she lied about whether she let him in that house. That's a problem. She tells police I went out to walk my dog and he's just standing there and then they obtained a video that shows he knocked on the door and she let him in the house. That's a problem. That was a flat out lie. She lied about that. And guess what, if you lied about that, there's a possibility you could be lying about other things that occur during that sexual encounter.

53:11 Christian Zealer definitely guilty of video voyeurism. There's no way around that. We'll be back next Monday with a brand new scandal. I'm your host, Jim Chabin. Much love. And I'll talk to you soon. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]