Christian and Bridget Ziegler fight to prevent records from being released

SARASOTA, Fla. - Former Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, have filed a lawsuit against the city of Sarasota and the State Attorney’s Office to prevent the release of certain public records that were gathered during a recent rape and video voyeurism investigation.

The Zieglers do not want all of Christian Ziegler’s web browsing history (which pre-dates SPD’s investigation by several years), full-text message conversations between Christian and Bridget Ziegler (including messages completely unrelated to SPD’s investigation and that predate the investigation by several years), the video of Christian Ziegler and his accuser engaging in sexual intercourse, and all other data and media that were downloaded by SPD from Christian Ziegler’s phone and provided in response the warrants issued to Google, Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc., to be released publicly. 

According to the lawsuit, the couple is also questioning what specific data and information pulled from Christian Ziegler’s cellphone, and Google and Instagram accounts constitute a public record. 

Florida law provides that data and electronic information is not automatically turned into a public record simply because it is stored on a device possessed by a public agency, according to court documents. 

The couple claims releasing this information would be a violation of their individual rights to privacy, causing great humiliation and harm to their individual reputations, meaning that "the proverbial cat would be out of the bag."

Documents show that a woman whom Christian Ziegler had known for 14 years accused him of rape last October. While investigating the alleged sexual assault, police, using a search warrant, got access to the entire contents of Christian Ziegler’s cellphone.

According to the lawsuit, the city and SAO have, to different extents, the contents of Christian Ziegler’s cellphone, Google Drive, and Instagram account and are receiving multiple public records requests. The city has already responded to some requests and have released several items including a redacted police report, audio records, and interview transcripts.

RELATED: Christian Ziegler investigation: Police release interview with Bridget Ziegler in rape investigation

In January, police released records that included details from a search of his phone, including messages between the couple, in which she is reluctant about having a possible three-way encounter with the woman who accused Chrisitan Ziegler of rape. 

Police said during separate interviews with Christian Ziegler, his wife, and the woman, all three confirmed previous threesomes in which the sexual encounters were consensual. 

According to the police reports, on the date of the incident, the woman was expecting both Ziegler’s to participate, but before arriving, Christian Ziegler messaged the woman that his wife would not be with him. Police said the woman responded that Bridget Ziegler was really who she was interested in and advised Christian Ziegler not to show up.

RELATED: Christian Ziegler rape investigation: Newly obtained bodycam video from original welfare check

The woman told police he showed up anyway, and once inside her home, sexually battered her.

Christian Ziegler told police that the October 2, 2023, encounter was consensual. He told police he arrived and knocked on the door. He said the woman opened the door and invited him inside.  

He said they engaged in small talk before she began kissing him and things progressed from there. He also told police he had about a dozen previous consensual sexual encounters with the woman since they first met.

Police also interviewed Bridget Ziegler, who said she was surprised by the rape accusation, but not by the extramarital activity. She confirmed she was involved in a threesome with her husband and the woman two years ago but said they had not arranged any further gatherings.  

She told police she did not know when her husband last saw the woman.

The released documents also detail a text conversation between Christian and Bridget, dated February 2, 2021, in which Bridget Ziegler pushes back against Christian Ziegler’s suggestion that the three of them get together.  

RELATED: Christian Ziegler investigation: Audio reveals former state GOP Chair’s concern over fallout from charges

In the conversation, Christian Ziegler tells his wife he thinks the woman is "hot" and he believes she is only into Bridget Ziegler. He tells his wife the woman is an "alcoholic, nice person with some issues," but she had no drama.  

Bridget Ziegler responded that she didn't want to feel like they were "taking advantage of anyone" and said the woman "seems broken or going through some [expletive]. Bridget tells her husband "my nature is more likely to help her versus...you know."  

According to the report, Christian Ziegler told his wife they "needed to hunt for someone new."

The search of Christian Ziegler's phone also turned up a list containing the names of several women. It was titled "THE LIST," and it included the woman's name under a subheading labeled with a slang term for sex. 

The documents said after police interviewed Christian Ziegler on November 1, he did several Google searches on his phone, including searches for: "How prearrest criminal investigations work," "What is the average settlement for a premises' liability sexual assault case," "Sue for false allegations," "Cost to file civil suit," and several other search phrases.

Police said Christian Ziegler was cooperative throughout the investigation and gave them a copy of the sexual encounter, which he recorded on his cellphone. In a statement released on January 19, police said "the video showed the encounter was likely consensual." 

While detectives said they were unable to develop probable cause to charge Christian Ziegler with sexual battery, law enforcement officers were aware that he had recorded the sexual encounter with his cellphone. Because it is a crime in Florida to film a sexual encounter without the knowledge and consent of the other person, police submitted the video voyeurism charge to the State Attorney's Office. 

Ultimately, the SAO said it was ultimately unable to determine that the encounter was filmed without the woman's consent due to a couple of different factors, including her inability to recall whether she consented to the video and other inconsistencies in her recounting of the incident.

Florida’s Republican Party removed Christian Ziegler as party chairman and while Sarasota County School Board members called for Bridget Ziegler to resign, she did not heed their recommendation and remains on the school board. 

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