Florida Republican lawmaker accused of sexually harassing two male staffers

A Republican member of the Florida House, Rep Fabian Basabe, has been accused by two former staffers of sexual harassment.

According to the complaint, which was filed on Thursday, the Florida Republican allegedly slapped 25-year-old Nicolas Frevola, a former legislative aide, from behind at an elementary school career day event in December 2022 and said, “I want ALL of that butt!” The incident happened without consent and in a room full of children, the lawsuit states.

The complaint also details another incident in January at an event following Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ inauguration. At the event, Mr Basabe was “drinking an excessive amount of alcohol,” the complaint continues, before asking Mr Frevola an “inappropriate” question, which escalated to the elected official slapping Mr Frevola across the face.

Mr Basabe forced the aide to sign an NDA, the lawsuit says.

The second former staffer, 24-year-old former intern Jacob Cutbirth, accused Mr Basabe “began to physically touch and grope him and to grab at him to try to kiss him” before he started working for the state representative.

Once hired, Mr Basabe told the intern “that he needed to flirt with him” in the office, the lawsuit said, and told Mr Cutbirth that he was required to sign an NDA — which he signed. The Florida Republican also urged the intern on several occasions to break up with his girlfriend to explore “having sex with men,” according to the lawsuit.

Mr Cutbirth also claimed that Mr Basabe asked if he had a “big d***.” Fed up, the intern quit after six weeks on the job.

An investigation, conducted by an outside law firm hired by House Speaker Paul Renner, into Mr Frevola’s complaint found that there was physical contact between the two men in December, but remained “inconclusive” regarding Mr Basabe slapping his aide’s face. Mr Basabe tweeted on 29 June about the investigation’s findings, saying it concluded “rightly in my favor.”

He has not commented on the staffers’ suit. Mr Basabe’s lawyers called the lawsuit “frivolous and meritless” to CBS on Thursday.

Mr Frevola is suing for Mr Basabe defamation and battery, while Mr Cutbirth is suing Mr Basabe for battery. The former staffers are demanding a trial by jury.The complaint states that the pair are also “contemporaneously filing charges with the EEOC” of alleged sexual harassment committed by Mr Basabe.

Rep Fentrice Driskell, minority leader in the Florida House, told The Independent that the allegations against Rep Basabe are “coming on the heels of an investigation that the legislature did where he was exonerated, so I feel like Republicans are sending a strong message that they aren’t bothered by any of this.”

“You get the feeling that there’s no accountability here,” she continued. “It’s no wonder that these affected individuals have now tried to take their complaints to the legal system to get some recourse,” she said.

Rep Driskell also mentioned that the Republicans’ silence on the matter is a “bad look” for the party: “It feels like they are trying to protect him or sweep this under the rug.”

The minority leader added that the situation is “unfortunate” and “I’m sure that Republican leadership doesn’t want to be dealing with this either.”

The Independent has contacted Mr Basabe for comment.