Congresswoman Lauren Boebert angrily denies relationships with staffers
A congresswoman with a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has angrily denied allegations she had sexual relationships with three staffers, including two women.
An ethics complaint accused Lauren Boebert of relationships with her current district chief of staff Raven Finegan, former district director Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff and chief of staff Jeffrey Small.
Lauren Boebert has denied paying hush money to a staffer she allegedly had an affair with. AP
When Navarro Ratzlaff's husband learned of the alleged affair, their marriage ended in divorce.
The ethics complaint also claims Navarro Ratzlaff was given hush money after she stopped working for the congresswoman.
"A payment of approximately $200,000 was made to Ms Navarro Ratzlaff to secure her silence and forestall the threatened complaint," the complaint reads.
"The source of the funds is presently unknown to Complainant."
The complainant is David Wheeler, a political activist who filed the complaint under oath to the ethics committee.
Though he is not directly involved in the scandal, Wheeler's complaint was filed under penalty of perjury.
In a video posted earlier today directed at "journalists", Boebert described Wheeler as a "sloppy, desperate, obsessive hack".
"It's a scam, and you fell for it," she said.
Navarro Ratzlaff also described the claims as “entirely false and defamatory”.
Lauren Boebert heckling Joe Biden during the State of the Union. AP
Members of Congress are prohibited from sexual or romantic relationships with their own staffers.
"(The accusations) come from an activist who has long recycled sensational claims, including numerous baseless accusations previously fact-checked as false," Boebert said.
"These untruthful claims are ridiculous, reckless, and politically motivated as they come just a few weeks before ballots go out in my election."
Boebert pointed out that the House Ethics Committee was not able to conduct an investigation within 60 days of an election.
"To be clear, swearing to it does not make it an official complaint," Boebert said.
"This was a political smear packaged as an ethics filing and published before anyone checked whether it even qualifies under the Committee’s rules."
She also denied the claim she had been in same-sex relationships.
Representative Lauren Boebert is a firebrand conservative. Bloomberg
"I’m not a lesbian or bisexual, and I have never, ever been in any inappropriate relationship, nor have I ever been sexually involved with any staff," she said.
Boebert is in a close re-election race for Congress, coming up on November 3.
While her district in rural Colorado is ostensibly very conservative, Boebert has a long history of underperforming.
The congresswoman is known as a firebrand conservative, famously heckling Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.
In 2023, she was booted out of a performance of the stage musical Beetlejuice in Denver.
Surveillance video showed her vaping, taking flash photos and groping and being groped by her date.
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