mr. ziegler and his wife, bridget ziegler. ms. ziegler said in an interview with the authorities that she and her husband had been involved in one sexual encounter with the woman over a year ago. when the woman learned that mrs. ziegler would not be present for the october encounter, the woman said she changed her mind and canceled with mr. ziegler. but the woman said mr. ziegler came to her apartment uninvited and sexually assaulted her. so before we unpack all of that, a little more on bridget ziegler. she has worked closely with ron desantis on a slew of draconian policies, namely anti-lgbtq legislation. here she is in 2022 standing behind governor desantis when he signed the don't say gay bill into law, at a ceremony where once again children were used as props and a clear message was sent to gay floridians that their lives do not matter. the legislation launched the presidential bid of an uncharismatic candidate who will likely not win. but the story doesn't end there. don't say gay inflamed the culture wars, serving as a pre

mr. ziegler will be completely exonerated. the board does not have the remove bridget ziegler. only governor ron desantis can. so far, he has not called on her to step aside. as for christian ziegler, the executive committee of the florida republican party will meet this weekend to discuss whether they are going to suspend christian ziegler and take up a vote of no confidence. carlo suarez cnn, florida. >>> in the meantime cnn has learned the florida gop leadership plans it meet behind closed doors tomorrow to take steps towards ousting christian ziegler. just a short time ago, florida republican governor ron desantis weighed in on the scandal as he campaigns in iowa. >> i've called on christian to step down as rpo chairman. my understanding is he's the one under the criminal cloud. clearly, i think bridget, and this is something i've worked with and have really liked the work she's dones going to have to look to see how effective she's going to be able to be in those circumstances. >> and joining us now with more on this story is national political reporter for the messenger,

mr. ziegler will be completely exonerated.tigation began with a 911 call from a friend of the alleged victim who was worried about her wellbeing. back in october, the friend requested a wellness check for the victim. we have partially redacted audio of the call which was first published by the florida center for accountability. the sarasota police department has not confirmed the call. >> tell me exactly what happened. >> so, this friend of mine, she has struggled with addiction for a while. and it's just gotten worse and worse. but she's telling me, she won't talk to anyone else, won't answer anyone else at work except for me, but she told me she was raped yesterday. and that she's scared to leave her house, but she's saying she's scared that the person who raped her came to her house, and she's scared to leave. >> the story gets even thornier because christian ziegler is married to bridget ziegler. she is the cofounder of moms for liberty, the extremist group on the front lines of the education culture wars. their mission is

mrs. ziegler, or you have ties to the school board here. the apoxsee in duplicity. >> ziegler sat stoically through the three hours a public comment at the school board meeting tuesday night and gave no indication of stepping down from the school board as her husband is being investigated. >> as people may know, i serve another public board. this issue did not come up, we are able to forge ahead with the business of the board. >> still, she got an earful from the community. >> resign. >> the majority of those that showed up criticized her. though she did have some support. >> what an adult does in her private life is hers. it's not for you to judge >> some of the community are pointing to ziegler's hypocrisy in passing judgment on others. >> we hear about all of those hypocrites for my entire life. it's always do as i say, not as i do. >> the fallout from the sex scandal and the criminal investigation has been swift. a moms for liberty chapter in pennsylvania split from the national group, and top republican officials in florida, including g

mr. ziegler will be completely exonerated. >> so, what's the next step? where does it got from here? >> well, anderson, the school board doesn't have the authority to remove bridget ziegler. only governor ron desantis can, and so far the governor has not called on her to step aside. as for christian ziegler, the executive committee of the florida republican party is going to meet this weekend. and they're going to decide whether to suspend christian ziegler and take a vote of no confidence. but right now, anderson, both zieglers remain in their leadership positions. >> carlos suarez, thanks so much. >>> just ahead, what some are calling a historic agreement at the united nations cop 28 climate summit in dubai. then there's the oil and gas industry has been applaudingng . bill w weir has ththat story c upup.. loving this pay bump in our allowance. wonder where mom and dad got the extra money? maybe they won the lottery? maybe they inherited a fortune? maybe buried treasure? maybe it fell off a truck? maybe they heard that xfinity customers can save hundreds when they buy one unlimted l

mr. ziegler to resign's party chair. christian ziegler, however, is refusing to step aside.e is because of donald trump. according to the messenger website, sources say ziegler has accused republicans who want to boot him from the office of hypocrisy because they are not denouncing trump, even though trump was recently held liable for sexually abusing e. jean carroll in 1996. according to one republican florida republican official, ziegler said to him, oh, so you're a big trump guy? but it's okay for trump? you don't call on him to resign but you want me to step down? by way of a response to this logic, i guess, that same republican official told ziegler, trump wasn't the president united states and accused of rape at the same time. he wasn't even in office. you were. and president trump wasn't doing threesomes either. apologies to anyone who is now trying to unsee that image. this is the predicament the republicans now face because of their undying loyalty to donald trump. men accused of carrying out attacks against women have learned from the guy at the top that they can s

mr. ziegler and mr.t changed or waivered. >> kayleigh: morgan, payments add up to $4000 and abbe lowell says this is a sham of investigation and these were loan repayments. it is important to take broad view of this and mike johnson laid out the facts. 15 million flowed from russia and china. 22 times, key point biden talked to business associates 16 times and lied to the american people and they reference the checks. >> morgan: i see this as national security issue, period of payments happened between when biden was vice president and running for president. normally people are incredibly careful during that period, they know their finances will be called into question. we could resolve this, have the president and his team fill out an f-86, that is something people fill out in the government, anybody getting political appointment has to fill out and disclose if you are taking payments from a foreign entity. have the president and his son and prother fill out the same form people have to fill out and hav

mrs. ziegler and how it reflects on the credibility of this board is a significant concern. >> i want to notethat at this point, no one has been charged with a crime. christian sequin's attorney told cnn that once this investigation is over, his client will be cleared of wrongdoing. joining me tonight, mark caputo, a veteran florida political reporter in national political reporter -- mark, i think a lot of people had no idea who these people wear. you know, more than a few weeks ago, want to know what is going on here and want to know what else we know about the allegations. >> there's a lot that's going on here. i mean, bottom line is, christian ziegler and brigitte ziegler have been inside of the face of the new right, the question, right desantis right, in the state. and now it sort of all unraveling. we also know that police are wrapping up their investigation. ziegler asked the republican party of florida when it stripped him of his power not to kick him out. they didn't, mainly because of procedural reasons, but they're gonna come back in about a month, and they're gonna do just that a

mr. ziegler testimony have not waivered because they are telling the truth. >> brian: they are irs guys, to this, most speaking time at the heated debate stage and vivek ramaswamy spent much of it attacking nikki haley. >> ainsley: didn't know we were on camera. >> three provinces they want our troops to fight for. nikki, i don't have a woman problem, you have a corruption problem, that is what people need to know, nikki is corrupt. this woman will send your kids to battle so she can buy a bigger house. only person more fascist than biden is nikki haley. nikki haley latest friends like larry fink created economy with chevron while being a shareholder of petro-china. >> ainsley: nikki haley is live with lawrence in tuscaloosa. lawrence. >> lawrence: can y'all give a roll tide welcome to this clemson graduate? [cheering] >> lawrence: okay. so governor, ambassador, i forget -- >> it is nikki, those are moments in time. >> lawrence: talk about the performance last night. vivek had a sign and said nikki is corrupt. take the banter out, there are a lot of corporations, business people and corp

mr. ziegler's to ensure that all americans are treated equally under law.every american should applaud these men for their courage to the truth. irs whistleblowers also revealed that investigators were prevented from following evidence that could have led to biden, the house oversight committees investigation of the bidens influence peddling schemes. reveals how joe biden knew about participated in, benefited from family cashing in on bidens name. in fact, hunter biden's corporate entities implicated by today's indictments funneled foreign cash that landed in joe biden's bank account. and unless u.s. attorney investigates everyone involved in the biden's fraud schemes influence peddling, it will be clear that president biden's doj is protecting hunter biden and the big guy. your reaction to that? >> newt gingrich? well, look, i think at a practical level, when you look at all the information, what you have is essentially what i call in a recent newsletter of the delaware sopranos. this is a crime family. they were willing to sell out the interest the united

mr. shapley and ziegler said we won't look into campaign finance concerns.se the term big guy when you do interviews, can't talk about political figure number one, joe biden. we want to ask her questions about all that. >> martha: at least she showed up for the questioning. hunter defied his congressional subpoena yesterday. instead offering that he would only testify publicly in front of cameras. but that step usually comes after the deposition step which they wanted to do first. so now republicans are moving to hold hunter biden in contempt of not showing up for their subpoena. some pointed out it may be difficult for the d.o.j. not to prosecute hunter if they get a referral from the house because they have to treat people the same, right? they went after steve bannon and peter navarro also for not showing up when they were subpoenaed to testify. back to democrats saying a different tune about the importance in those situations of showing up for the closed-door deposition. >> this goes on for hour after hour after hour. we want to get all our questions ans

mr. shapley and ziegler we are not going to look into campaign finance concerns.r questions about all of that. >> this is why hunter biden decided to demand a public opportunity to make his testimony. what took place upstairs was a huge waste of time. >> bret: deposition of a prosecutor in the hunter biden case written up here. leslie wolf, prosecutor accused of working to limit questions about big guy and hunter probe out the doj. leslie wolf who served as an assistant u.s. attorney. u.s. attorney's office in delaware is no longer with the doj. according to sewers familiar with the situation. irs whistleblower gary shapley alleged that wolf worked to limit questioning related to president biden and apparent references to biden as dad or the big guy. with that, let's bring in our panel. byron york, chief political correspondent washington examiner. katy pavlich. hall.com and josh kraushaar fox news radio political analyst. whether a do you make. leslie wolf was going to be important witness for the republicans. if you listen to those whistleblowers you just cited,