GOP Rep.’s Wife Slams Prostitution Claims Against Him As ‘False Attacks’

A Louisiana congressman’s wife is fighting back against allegations, laid out in a book published Tuesday, that he fraternized with prostitutes who were later murdered in a string of mysterious killings that rocked a small Bayou State city in the mid-2000s.

Bridget Boustany, the wife of Rep. Charles Boustany (R), said Monday in an email sent to supporters backing his bid for U.S. Senate that the charges laid out in the book, “Murder In The Bayou,” were “false attacks.”

“He’s a good man, a loving husband, and an incredible father to our two children,” Bridget Boustany said in the email, which was obtained by the Associated Press.

The AP also reported that in the email, Boustany blamed her husband’s opponents in the race for spreading “lies” about him.

In “Murder In The Bayou,” journalist Ethan Brown reported that multiple anonymous sources alleged Boustany had sexual relationships with several of eight prostitutes found murdered in Jefferson Davis Parish between 2005 and 2009. According to BuzzFeed News, the book says there is no evidence that Boustany had any involvement in the murders, which remain unsolved.

Brown also reported that former Boustany field director Martin Guillory ran a motel where some of the victims met clients, as BuzzFeed noted. Guillory told Brown he was not aware that any criminal activity took place there.

Boustany campaign staffers told the AP that Guillory ended his work with their office last week and never told them about his experience running the Boudreaux Inn from the late 1990s through to the end of 2004.

Reports on the allegations in Brown’s book have circulated since previews of the book were made available last week by its publisher, the Simon & Schuster imprint Scribner. But until Bridget Boustany’s email, the Louisiana lawmaker’s many opponents appeared to have refrained from touching the allegations.

Boustany is battling 23 Republican and Democratic opponents for one of two runoff spots in a jungle primary to replace Sen. David Vitter (R), whose gubernatorial campaign was derailed last year amid his own prostitution scandal. Another candidate in the crowded primary is former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and ardent Donald Trump supporter David Duke.

Since the “Murder In The Bayou” allegations went public, some of Boustany’s competitors have come issued with statements that highlighted the audacity of the charges against him.

“I want to be very clear that my campaign played absolutely no role in creating this story alleging Congressman Boustany’s sexual relationships with prostitutes that were later murdered, his staff’s alleged involvement in running the bar and hotel where this illicit behavior took place, or publishing the book Murder in the Bayou written by Ethan Brown and published by Simon and Schuster,” state Treasurer John Kennedy, a Republican, said in a statement obtained by the AP.

Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) sounded a similar tone in a Tuesday statement, calling the allegations “scandalous.”

“I want to make it clear that I have played no role in advancing the news stories, nor have I directed any staff to do so as well, regarding alleged impropriety by Charles,” Fleming said in a statement obtained by NOLA.com. “We have read the stories like everyone else and have been shocked by the allegations levied against Charles and one of his long-time staffers.”