Scandal-plagued Florida lawmaker accused of biting people when angry

Fabian Basabe, a scandal-plagued state lawmaker referred to by some as the "George Santos of Florida," has already been accused of sexually harassing two staffers.

Now, according to The Daily Beast, he is facing a much stranger accusation: biting people.

"According to a fiery email exchange between Basabe and a hotel employee from 2016 reviewed by the [Miami Herald], Basabe angrily complained about being seated next to people he didn’t know — and in response, one employee pointed out that Basabe allegedly bit him, leaving a 'massive bloody welt and bruise' on his shoulder," reported Isabella Ramirez.

That wasn't the only such incident, said the report: a waitress at a separate hotel told police that in 2017, Basabe bit her arm while she was serving him drinks.

The sexual harassment lawsuit against Basabe, filed by legislative staffers, claim that he made lewd remarks to an aide and an intern, showed them a photograph of a naked man on his phone, and telling one that he should end things with his girlfriend and "explore his sexuality by having sex with men."

Basabe has been inconsistent about his own sexuality; he ran unsuccessfully for Miami Beach Commission as an openly gay Republican who was moderate on LGBTQ rights issues. Since being elected to the state legislature, he has backed much of the Florida GOP's draconian anti-gay legislation, while being cagey about whether he considers himself gay. He is also married to a clothing heiress he describes as his college sweetheart.

The inconsistencies in his story have earned him comparisons to George Santos, the openly gay freshman Republican congressman in New York who was revealed to have lied about almost every aspect of his life on the campaign trail and is now under federal indictment for wire fraud.