Ousted Florida GOP leader Christian Ziegler won't be charged with rape

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Sarasota police have decided against recommending rape charges against ousted Republican Party of Florida chair Christian Ziegler but he could still face felony charges of illegally recording the alleged victim.

Ziegler earlier this month was pushed out of his post as chair of the state partyafter he refused to step down as the criminal probe was underway.

In a statement released on Friday, the Sarasota Police Department said it reviewed a video that Ziegler allegedly recorded of him and the woman who made the initial rape complaint. Police said that “the video showed that the encounter was likely consensual. Therefore, detectives were unable to develop probable cause to charge Ziegler with sexual battery.”

But police said after they conducted a follow-up interview with the alleged victim, she told detectives she was unaware that Ziegler had recorded their encounter and did not consent to be recorded. The police have recommended that local prosecutors charge Ziegler with video voyeurism.

State Attorney Ed Brodsky acknowledged that police have forwarded the case on to his office.

“We’re going to begin to immediately review their investigative findings and I expect our review to be thorough,” Brodsky said.

Ziegler has maintained that the October encounter he had with the woman who leveled the rape accusations against him was consensual. He and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder and Sarasota County school board member Bridget Ziegler, also acknowledged to police that they had been in a three-way consensual sexual encounter a year earlier with the alleged victim, per a search warrant affidavit.

“Since day one, we have been confident Mr. Ziegler would be exonerated from these baseless allegations,” said Derek Byrd, an attorney representing Ziegler, in an email. “He has been completely honest, forthright, and has fully cooperative with law enforcement at every stage of this investigation.”

Byrd said the allegations had been damaging to his client.

“We asked and warned the public to withhold judgment of criminal wrongdoing until a thorough investigation of the facts was complete,” Byrd added. “Sadly, many people and media outlets refused to give Mr. Ziegler that courtesy. That was unfair and unfortunate and has caused irreparable harm to Mr. Ziegler's reputation, his personal life, professional life, and his family.”

Byrd added that “while we are disappointed that the Sarasota Police Department ‘punted’ the decision on the remaining portion of the case to the state attorney’s office, we strongly believe that the state attorney will not prosecute Mr. Ziegler for any crime.”

The revelations in the case opened both Ziegler and Bridget Ziegler to allegations of hypocrisy since both espouse traditional family values. The details fueled calls for each of them to step down from their respective positions.

Ziegler refused calls to resign even as they came from various high-level Republicans in the state, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Ziegler’s refusal to resign while the investigation was ongoing angered many GOP leaders in the state party who overwhelmingly voted to remove him as chair at an executive committee meeting held earlier this month in Tallahassee.

Bridget Ziegler, who left Moms for Liberty in 2021, was asked by her school board colleagues to resign, but she has refused to do so. Local media in the Tampa Bay area reported that dozens showed at this week’s school board meeting and demanded that she step down.