On-the-ropes Boebert lashes out over ethics complaints alleging salacious behavior

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) brushed off coverage of an ethics complaint accusing her of sexual relationships with staff, telling New York Magazine's Intelligencer, “Screw the media.”

The complaint was filed last month with the House Ethics Committee by David Wheeler, who runs American Muckrakers. Wheeler alleges Boebert had sexual relationships with both male and female staffers and that hush-money payments were involved. Boebert denies it. She told the magazine the press ran with the claims because Wheeler said he filed under penalty of perjury, and she said he has targeted her and her family for six years.

Wheeler said that if any of it is false, she can say so under oath or sue him for defamation. He says he plans to sue her in North Carolina. A Colorado judge granted Boebert a protection order against him this month.

In 2022, Wheeler published an allegation that she once worked as an escort, which she denied. She obtained an earlier protection order against him, and he sued her for defamation in a case that was later settled.

Clarice Navarro, a former Boebert district director named in the complaint, said the claims about her are “entirely false” and “defamatory.” Her ex-husband, Jace Ratzlaff, denied to CBS that he was a source for Wheeler and cited a polygraph. The other two staffers haven’t commented publicly. The Ethics Committee can’t act on the complaint now because it was filed within 60 days of an election.

Boebert is in a tighter race than expected against Democrat Eileen Laubacher, in a district Trump carried by 18 points in 2024. Intelligencer says she polled about five points ahead, and Cook Political Report now rates the race “lean Republican.” Laubacher has outraised her $13.7 million to $1.2 million, according to the Denver Post.

Boebert has largely stayed loyal to Trump on key issues, but publicly broke with him over the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case files. She is one of the only Republican members of Congress to publicly lead the charge on that issue who is still seeking re-election.