Miami.- Florida Congressman Fabian Basabe was sued for sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed by an aide and an intern from his office at the state Capitol, local media reported Friday.
According to the Miami channel WFOR, affiliated with the CBS News chain, the young people Nicolas Frevola and Jacob Cutbirth, aged 25 and 24, respectively, filed a lawsuit on Thursday in a court in León County, where the state capital is located. , Tallahassee.
In it, they point out that the Republican congressman, who was elected in 2022 by a narrow margin, spoke to them frequently about sex and on one occasion showed them a photo of a naked man on his phone.
Among other things, Frevola accuses Basabe of once slapping him from behind and telling him “I want all that” while the two were in the back of a Miami Beach elementary school classroom that “was full of kids.” ».
For his part, Cutbirth points out in the complaint that the legislator advised him to break up with his fiancée and “explore his sexuality by having sex with men”, and that in December 2022 Basabe, in a clear state of drunkenness, touched him, groped him and tried to kiss when the intern took him to a hotel after a night of drinking.
Following the lawsuit, the office of the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Republican Paul Renner, said that an outside lawyer will investigate the allegations and that the state lower house “has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment.”
“Each Florida Chamber employee receives a copy of the administrative policy manual that outlines how to report allegations of sexual harassment with staff and management.”
After the complaint, the lawyer for the Republican congressman, Robert Fernández, told the outlet that Basabe will not testify about “this frivolous and meritless lawsuit,” and that he will not “give it more public attention than it deserves, which is none.”
