Arizona rep quits over RM21m surrogacy claim
WASHINGTON, DC: Republican lawmaker Trent Franks offered a female staff member US$5 million (RM21 million) to bear his child, United States media reported on Friday as he abruptly resigned from Congress, where he was facing an ethics probe over sexual misconduct.
Franks, an eight-term lawmaker from Arizona, had announced a day earlier that he would step down from the House of Representatives on Jan 31. He acknowledged that he had discussed surrogacy with two female staffers.
The Washington Post, citing Andrea Lafferty, the president of the Traditional Values Coalition, said one of the women was told she would be given US$5 million to “conceive” his child.
The woman rejected Franks’ offer but felt sidelined and later quit her job, added Lafferty.
Politico, citing congressional sources, said the two female staffers had been approached about acting as a potential surrogate for him and his wife — Franks said he and his wife had struggled with fertility for years.
The women, according to the sources, were concerned that the congressman was asking to have sex with them, and that it was unclear whether he was asking about the prospect of impregnating them through sexual intercourse or in vitro fertilisation, Politico reported.
House Speaker Paul Ryan was told of the misconduct allegations on Nov 29, and he believed the accusations were “credible”. He told Franks he should resign.
In Pensacola, Florida, President Donald Trump on Friday voiced support for Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican Senate candidate dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, during a rally that foreshadowed themes for next year’s midterm elections.
Trump, speaking to a stadium of supporters here near the Alabama state line, touted his work to quit or renegotiate trade deals,
and called on Democrats to support a measure that would avert a government shutdown.
But he made a point of using the rally to note his desire to get Moore elected.
“Get out and vote for Roy Moore,” Trump said ahead of Tuesday’s election.
The race in the heavily Republican state heated up last month with accusations that Moore sexually assaulted or behaved inappropriately with several women when they were teenagers, and he was in his 30s.
“This country cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close US Senate,” Trump said.
Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate.
Trump said Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, was a “total puppet” of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Agencies