Moms for Liberty co-founder and husband sue to keep threesome texts private

Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler and her husband, former Florida Republican leader Christian Ziegler, have filed a lawsuit to stop police and prosecutors from releasing text messages related to a threesome they were involved in with another woman.

Last year, Bridget Ziegler and husband Christian Ziegler – who was the chairman of the Florida Republican party at the time – admitted to engaging in a threesome with a woman who accused Christian of raping her in his wife’s absence. Police cleared Ziegler of the rape charges in January.

Earlier this month, the State Attorney’s Office also said there was not enough evidence to pursue criminal charges over allegations Christian Ziegler also filmed a sexual encounter with the victim without her consent. 

The sex scandal led to Christian Ziegler being removed from his role within the GOP by an “almost unanimous” vote and Bridget Ziegler facing staunch calls to resign from the Sarasota County School Board. 

At the same time, the backlash saw the MAGA power couple accused of hypocrisy for having a sexual encounter with another woman despite their vehement anti-LGBTQ+ campaigning. 

On Monday (18 March), the couple filed a lawsuit against the Sarasota Police Department (SPD) and the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) in which they demanded that private communications obtained during the investigations not be released to the public and be destroyed in their totality. 

During the course of the investigation, police obtained records from Christian Ziegler’s phone including text messages and emails, call logs, media content and web history. 

Court filings state the records being made public would “cause great humiliation and harm to their individual reputations” as they contain text conversations between the husband and wife as well as “the video of Christian Ziegler and his [rape] accuser engaging in sexual intercourse”. 

“The cell phone and its contents are my personal property,” Christian Ziegler said in the court document. 

“The phone includes years of data, including communications with my wife and different attorneys I have retained over the years. The phone and its contents were not intended to be public.”

“To say that someone’s entire life is contained on one’s cell phone is an understatement.”

“The Zieglers are concerned that other individuals and media outlets will most likely make, or have already made, similar public records requests with either SPD or the SAO now that the investigation has concluded,” the filing goes on to read.  

It continues: “The Zieglers seek to preclude the release and publication of any of the above-mentioned materials before SPD or the SAO release them pursuant to any active public records request.” 

When Ziegler was cleared of rape, his attorney, Derek Byrd, said his client was relieved to be cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. 

“We co-operated at every stage of investigation and, as difficult as it was, we remained quiet out of respect for the investigation,” he said.

“On day one, we said that Mr Ziegler was completely innocent. We asked everyone not to rush to judgment, and reminded everyone to presume Mr Ziegler innocent, as the constitution instructs. Unfortunately, many did not award that courtesy to Mr Ziegler, damaging his family, career and reputation.”

His wife, whose group Moms for Liberty is defined as an LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, was called out for the scandal at a number of school board meetings. 

During the public comment section of one such meeting, retired deputy superintendent of Maryland schools John Smeallie called her “a hypocrite of the worst order”, adding: “Despite your attacks on the LGTBQ+ community, it would appear that you are a part of it. Certainly a ‘B’, maybe a plus.”