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Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) admitted to having an affair with his deceased staffer after weeks of controversy surrounding their relationship and her suicide by self-immolation.
Gonzales has been at the center of a growing scandal since a bombshell report from Express News alleged that the congressman had an affair with his staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, months before she covered herself in gasoline outside her home in September of 2025.
The congressman denied any improper relationship with Santos-Aviles, even after alleged text messages obtained by Juliegrace Brufke of 24sight News showed that Gonzales “made explicit sexual requests to his late congressional staffer who repeatedly resisted.”
The congressman refused to resign from his seat, despite calls for his resignation from five Republican House members: Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Nancy Mace (SC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Tim Burchett (R-TN).
Gonzales was forced into a primary runoff on Tuesday after failing to obtain over 50% of the vote. Yet the following day, the congressman chose to admit to the affair for the first time, the same day the House Ethics Committee announced it was forming a panel to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” Gonzales told conservative talk show host Joe Pagliarulo. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has. And my faith is as strong as ever.”
The congressman denied having “anything to do with” Santos-Aviles’s death, telling Pagliarulo he was “shocked” at her passing.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing, and in fact, I was shocked just as much as everyone else was,” he said.
He went on to allege that Santos-Aviles’s husband, Adrian Aviles, asked the congressman for money “or else,” claiming Aviles launched a “coordinated” effort to extort him.
Gonzales claimed:
Within hours [of Santos-Aviles’s death], her estranged husband reached out to our office and asked, within hours, asked about her death benefits and how he could gain access to her retirement fund. […] It was eerie. It was creepy. […] A few months later, his criminal defense attorney, which I also thought was weird, not a civil offense attorney, his criminal defense attorney reaches out and and essentially ask me for money or else, right? They asked for $300,000. The thing is, is I don’t have $300,000. And if I did have $300,000, I’m not going to give it to somebody who’s trying to shake me down. So, this was always about money. Fast forward again. Now, now you add politics into it, right? All this thing was relayed, you know, the beginning of early voting. So, this was all coordinated. It was intentional.
Gonzales further claimed that the police report from Santos-Aviles’s death detailed her last words and her claims that her husband was gay. The congressman “wondered” if her husband’s alleged sexuality could have contributed to his former staffer’s death.
“In the police report, this is specifically from the police report, ‘The female subject with burn injuries then stated her husband is gay and having an affair with her best friend,’” he said. “I wonder if that had something to do with her tragic passing.”
The alleged contents of the police report have not yet been confirmed.
Watch above via The Joe Pags Show.
The post House Republican Admits to Affair With Staffer Who Later Committed Suicide – Then Suggests Her Widower Is Gay first appeared on Mediaite.
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