Christian Ziegler voted out as Florida GOP chairman amid sexual assault investigation
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Christian Ziegler lost his position as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida during a special meeting Monday amid an ongoing sexual assault investigation.
A two-thirds vote was needed to remove Ziegler. Last month, the party stripped Ziegler of his authority and reduced his salary to $1. Ziegler was not allowed to fundraise or speak on behalf of the party.
In a special election Monday, Republican Party of Florida Vice Chairman Evan Power was voted as the new chair. Power beat National Committeeman Peter Feaman by a vote of 135-65.
Republican Party of Sarasota County Chairman Jack Brill released a statement on Monday:
It’s sad and frustrating that this whole thing had to happen, but I’m glad we are so incredibly unified as a full Republican Party of Florida Committee in saying with near unanimity that the behavior of Christian Ziegler does not represent this Party.
We are now excited to move forward more unified than ever. I look forward to working with the Republican Party of Florida under newly elected Chair Evan Power, who won decisively 135-65, to make our Party and the State of Florida great!
Republican Party of Sarasota County Chairman Jack Brill
The Sarasota Police Department had also recently began investigating whether Ziegler violated video voyeurism laws, according to a search warrant obtained by Florida’s Voice from the Sarasota Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller.
Ziegler has maintained he is innocent and believes he will be exonerated once the investigation is complete.
Video voyeurism is when a person “intentionally uses or installs an imaging device to secretly” record or view a person in a sexual form without their consent, especially where that person has an expectation of privacy, under Florida law, among other classifications.
The Sarasota Police Department confirmed to Florida’s Voice the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.
According to the Dec. 8, 2023 search warrant, detectives interviewed Ziegler and his attorney Derek Byrd at his office on Nov. 2, 2023.
“Ziegler stated he took a video of the sexual encounter with the victim on [Oct. 2, 2023, and] stated the sexual encounter was consensual,” the document said.
The victim previously told police she was “not in a place to consent.”
The warrant said Ziegler showed detectives the 2.5 minute video of the sexual encounter.
Ziegler’s attorney mentioned a message which was sent on Instagram’s “vanish mode” between the victim and Ziegler where the victim asked him if he showed his wife, Bridget Ziegler, the video, according to the warrant.
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Detectives spoke with both the victim and Ziegler’s wife. The victim told police she did not give Ziegler consent to take the video of them having sex, the warrant said.
The warrant noted that the wife and the victim said they didn’t know about the video, and both told police they had not seen the video.
The warrant said there is reason to believe that evidence of the crime will be “found within the Instagram account” operated by Ziegler.
The evidence is being requested from Meta, which owns Instagram. The search warrant said the request is for “any and all stored electronic communications or files associated with the user accounts identified as [Ziegler’s user name].”
According to a previous search warrant for Ziegler’s telephone, which was released by Sarasota County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court in November 2023, police said the investigation revealed the victim and Ziegler have known each other for 20 years and they agreed to have a sexual encounter that included Ziegler’s wife.
The affidavit said there was probable cause to believe the law related to sexual battery (mentally incapacitated) had been violated by Ziegler.
Police said Ziegler and the victim were communicating via text and Instagram on Oct. 2, 2023, according to police. When the victim learned that Bridget could not make it, she said she changed her mind and cancelled on Christian because Bridget was not coming, the document said.
The affidavit said on Oct. 2, 2023, the victim said she opened her door to walk her dog and Christian was standing outside, entered the apartment, bent the victim over the bar stool and vaginally penetrated her with his penis. She claimed she was “not in a place to consent.”
Many elected officials called for Ziegler’s resignation including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast.
