Cheney challenger calls himself 'Romeo' for impregnating 14-year-old when he was 18
Republican Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard called the scandal a ‘Romeo and Juliet story.’
A Wyoming Republican state senator running to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from her seat in Congress admitted on Thursday to impregnating a 14-year-old girl when he was 18 — attributing the story to the “Fake News Media.”
Bouchard made the revelation in a Facebook live video, in which he blamed the emergence of the story on “dirty politics” and “the establishment swamp.” He later said in a tweet that he expected a “hit piece” about the story to be published.
“It’s a story when I was young. Two teenagers, girl gets pregnant,” Bouchard said in the video. “You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorAnthonyBouchard/videos/1132103807288961
Bouchard told the Casper Star-Tribune, a local Wyoming newspaper, that he was living in Florida at the time that he impregnated the young girl.
According to Florida law, the age of consent is 18 — meaning the girl Bouchard impregnated was not old enough to consent.
“Even though states’ laws establish age of consent and/or age gap provisions that allow a minor under 18 to consent to sexual conduct, many states, including Florida, have other provisions in law that make it unlawful for an offender, even if the victim is over the age of consent or within an age-gap provision range, to engage in sexual conduct with a person under 18 years of age,” according to a report from the Florida state Senate.
Bouchard told the Star-Tribune that he went on to marry the girl in Florida when he was 19 and she was 15. At the age of 20, his wife died by suicide.
Bouchard is one of a handful of Republicans challenging Cheney after she dared to criticize Donald Trump.
He was the first Republican to enter the race, a week after Cheney voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Bouchard is an outspoken supporter of Trump. He also was a speaker at an “America First Rally” in Florida on April 24 with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“I’m excited to announce I will be speaking at the America First Rally on Saturday with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The event has been moved to the Indian River County Fairgrounds in Vero Beach, FL due to high ticket demand,” Bouchard wrote in a Facebook post promoting the event.
As of April 21, Bouchard had raised $400,000 in his bid to defeat Cheney in a GOP primary, according to a report from a local Wyoming radio station.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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