Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard revealed in a Facebook Live video and statements to the press that he impregnated a girl when she was 14 and he was 18 years of age, and he compared it to Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.
On May 20, 2021, Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, who is one of the Republican candidates seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in the House of Representatives in 2022, posted a Facebook Live video addressing the fact that when he was 18 years old he had impregnated and later married a minor: https://www.snopes.com/uploads/2021/05/Your-Facebook-Video-fbdown.net_.mp4 In the emotional video, titled, 'Senator Bouchard takes on the fake news media!,' Bouchard said, 'Bottom line is a story, when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant, you've heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me. So it's like the 'Romeo and Juliet' story,' Bouchard said in the video, at one point stepping away to compose himself. The comparison to the Shakespeare tragedy set in the 16th century drew fire, namely from people pointing out that because the girl was 14 it amounted to rape. You misspelled 'rape,' Mark Elliott. Why do men always, always, always minimize this? It's statutory rape, end of discussion. https://t.co/y07dRi1rDX - Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) May 21, 2021 Bouchard said the marriage ended in a bitter divorce, that his son from that union has 'almost become my estranged son,' and his ex-wife committed suicide. Although he lashed out against the 'establishment swamp' for researching his family history, Bouchard told the Casper Star-Tribune newspaper he doesn't believe Cheney's campaign was the source of it. Cheney's campaign also told the paper it was not involved in the research. Bouchard spoke to the Casper Star-Tribune after posting the video, at which time he revealed that he was 18 years old and the girl was 14. They married one year later in Florida. Bouchard also told the paper that his ex-wife committed suicide when she was 20 years old. The newspaper reported the two were living in Florida at the time, where the age of consent is 18. But they were able to marry because Florida law then allowed people to marry at any age if there was a pregnancy and a judge approved the marriage. Bouchard is one of the Republicans challenging Cheney in upcoming primaries. Cheney has been the target of GOP ire for refusing to repeat false claims promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 presidential election was beset by massive-scale voter fraud. Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump for his role inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol with false election-fraud claims, was ousted from her post as one of the top Republicans in the House in early May 2021. If you need help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255. Or contact Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
nan
09077-proof-09-bouchard.jpg