Embattled MAGA rep pressured another staffer to send nudes: report
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) was accused by a former staffer of asking for sex and nude photos via text years before the affair with his staffer who died by suicide last year, according to a report from the San Antonio Express News.
During his 2020 congressional campaign, Gonzales reportedly asked his campaign's political director when she went to sleep and then started a series of inappropriate exchanges and requests. His former aide, who declined to share her name due to privacy concerns, shared the text messages with the news outlet.
“What kind of panties do you wear?” Gonzales asked via text message.
"Within hours, the married Navy veteran from San Antonio was asking for nude photos and describing how he wanted to have sex with her and have her 'squeeze my balls,'" the San Antonio Express News reported. "At the end of the night, after she replied 'Nope' to yet another request for a photo, he replied, '47 nos is about my limit.'"
But the married father of six, a MAGA loyalist endorsed by President Donald Trump, apparently persisted. He kept asking for pictures.
“I know what I want and won’t stop until I get it,” he wrote via text from June 15, 2020.
The staffer apparently responded with a facepalm emoji and wrote: "You better do that in Congress. And take me with you."
Last month, Gonzales admitted to a long-reported extramarital affair with Regina Santos-Aviles, a married congressional staffer who died in a gruesome suicide last year. Text messages during their involvement suggested she was uncomfortable with some of what Gonzales was asking her to do. Both the Office of Congressional Conduct and the House Ethics Committee are investigating.
He confirmed the affair on "The Joe Pags show," calling the relationship a "mistake" and "a lapse in judgment."