This story originally appeared on The Advocate.
Rep. Lauren Boebert is publicly refuting a complaint filed with the House Committee on Ethics on September 17 which alleged that the Colorado congresswoman had sexual relationships with three staffers she supervised, including two women, and paid $200,000 in hush money in an attempt to keep one of the relationships secret.
“Congresswoman Lauren Boebert rejects these allegations as utterly false and there is no truth to them whatsoever,” a representative for the lawmaker wrote in a statement to multiple media outlets on Saturday. “This is nothing more than a politically motivated stunt designed to manipulate the ethics process, create headlines, smear her, and generate clickbait."
The sworn ethics complaint, first reported by the Colorado Times Reporter, was filed by David Wheeler of the political action committee American Muckrackers and identified three current and former staffers, claiming that Boebert had relationships with former district director Clarice Navarro Ratzlaff, district chief of staff Raven Finegan and former chief of staff Jeffrey Small. The complaint claims that the six-figure hush money payment was issued to Navarro to disincentivize her from filing an ethics complaint.
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Navarro, who worked under Boebert from 2021 to 2025, denied the substance of the complaint to the Reporter, writing, “These allegations regarding me are entirely false, defamatory, and beyond ridiculous. There is absolutely no truth to any part of this claim.”
Navarro’s ex-husband, Jace Ratzlaff, appeared to suggest he believed the relationship took place when contacted by American Muckrackers, reportedly saying, “I assumed this would eventually surface, I’ll have no further comment on this topic.”
The complaint primarily focuses on an alleged relationship between Boebert and Navarro, laying out a timeline of joint travel and claiming that $200,000 was paid to the staffer in 2025 “to secure her silence and forestall the threatened complaint.”
“The source of the funds is presently unknown to Complainant,” Wheeler added.
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In her statement, Boebert’s representative attacked Wheeler, calling him “an activist who has long recycled sensational claims, including numerous baseless accusations previously fact-checked as false.” Wheeler’s group has previously sued Boebert for defamation over her denials of previous allegations made by American Muckrakers.
Boebert, a far-right politician with an extensive anti-LGBTQ+ track record, also denied the affairs in a separate statement to the political blog Sources Say News by suggesting that she is strictly heterosexual: “Well, I’m not a lesbian or bisexual, and I have never, ever been in any inappropriate relationship, nor have I ever been sexually involved with any staff.”
Boebert also addressed a claim in a blog post Wheeler made accompanying the complaint that has attracted widespread media attention: “One source,” Wheeler wrote, “also claims that Boebert and Navarro had a threesome with former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz.”
“Creative, I’ll give him that!” Boebert told Sources Say News of the Gaetz detail.
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Gaetz himself denied the allegation on X, writing, “I am requesting that anyone with video of me in this alleged ‘threesome’ release said evidence IMMEDIATELY! Unedited, please.”
Boebert, who assumed office in 2021, has staunchly advocated against LGBTQ+ rights during her time in Congress. She opposes the Equality Act, which would formalize federal discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, and has co-sponsored legislation aimed at restricting healthcare for transgender youth. Her official website includes an extensive “family values” section, in which she writes, “I oppose efforts to redefine marriage as anything other than the union of one man and one woman.”
