Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and her former staffer Clarice Navarro have both denied allegations made in a complaint filed last Thursday with the House Committee on Ethics that they were involved in a sexual affair.
“I reject these baseless allegations as utterly false and there is no truth to them whatsoever. I have never had a sexual relationship or an inappropriate romantic relationship with any member of my staff – past or present,” said a Sunday press release from Boebert’s office. “This is nothing more than a politically motivated stunt designed to manipulate the ethics process, create headlines, smear me, and generate clickbait.”
The Colorado Times Recorder first reported on the complaint – filed by David Wheeler of American Muckrakers – and published it in full. It said that the complaint alleged that Boebert violated the House rule adopted after the #MeToo reckoning.
While the outlet noted that Boebert and alleged affair with Navarro (who served as Boebert’s district director from January 2021 to January 2025) was “the centerpiece” of the complaint, the filing alleged that Boebert had sexual relationships with three current or former aides in total. The complaint also alleges “that Boebert arranged a $200,000 payment to Navarro to prevent her from filing her own ethics complaint,” the Times Recorder said.
Navarro “vehemently” denied the allegations via text, according to the Times Recorder.
“These allegations regarding me are entirely false, defamatory, and beyond ridiculous. There is absolutely no truth to any part of this claim,” she said, per the outlet.
However, the Times Recorder noted American Muckrakers’ press release claims that Navarro’s ex-husband, Jace Ratzlaff, said: “I assumed this would eventually surface.”
Boebert, known as a supporter of President Donald Trump and as one of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republicans, has served Colorado’s 4th congressional district since 2021 and she was re-elected in 2024. She’s up for re-election again and is facing Democratic challenger Eileen Laubacher as well as Libertarian Douglas Mangeris, per the Coloradan.
Before entering politics, Boebert was the owner of Shooter’s Grill – a Second Amendment-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colo., where staff open-carried firearms – along with her ex-husband Jayson Boebert with whom she shares four sons. While the couple was divorcing in 2023, Boebert made headlines for getting kicked out of a Denver performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” for vaping inside and disturbing other audience members. Boebert’s ex-husband and son Tyler have also made headlines for legal troubles.
Wheeler, the man who filed the ethics complaint last week, is a former Democratic political candidate in North Carolina, according to the Coloradan. His group. American Muckrakers, has been focused on investigating conservative Republican candidates, the outlet added.
In 2022, Wheeler made claims that Boebert worked as a paid escort. A website he made at the time featured an image of a woman who was not Boebert. Wheeler admitted that was “sloppy” of him, CNN reported, but he still defended his claims. Boebert threatened to sue but never did and Wheeler did actually sue her for defamation after she threatened legal action. They settled out of court.
“Some sloppy, desperate, obsessive hack stamps ‘under oath’ on a fake filing so you’ll write ‘under penalty of perjury’ in the headline?” said Boebert of Wheeler in a Sep. 20 video posted to X directed to journalists. “Yeah, that’s the whole freaking trick. It’s a scam, and you fell for it.”
In the video, Boebert also said that since the complaint was filed within 60 days of an election, the complaint must be sent back to the sender. The Coloradan also noted that the committee can’t accept the complaint at this time.
