Multiple Republican members of Congress are accusing a liberal political action committee of posing as a GOP staffer to extract potentially damaging information from elected officials and raise money for Democrats — with one text message exchange targeting a female lawmaker including anti-Semitic and sexist language, Fox News Digital has learned.
Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said she received a text message this summer from someone claiming to be Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff. But the person quickly turned personal, denigrating Luna as a “fake” Jew and making lewd comments about her.
Luna claims she is now facing another round of harassment as her re-election campaign enters its final weeks. She revealed the bizarre details of the opposition research program when asked by Fox News Digital about the other allegations.
In July, someone posing as Abbott’s new chief of staff attempted to set up a fake phone call between Luna and Abbott regarding Luna’s reelection efforts, according to screenshots of a text conversation provided to Fox News Digital by Luna’s office.
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna attends a news conference with House and Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Rep. Luna – Hello, I’m the new [Chief of Staff] “To Governor Abbott. Can we set up a call for tomorrow? Robert Black,” read the first text message sent to Luna on July 18. Robert Black is the name of Abbott’s current chief of staff, who officially joined the office on July 22, according to a press release from Abbott’s office issued in early July.
Luna replied: “Yes! What time?”
“He wants to discuss how you can help him beat Fox,” the alleged Abbott staffer said, while suggesting a time for the alleged call. Luna faces Democratic opponent Whitney Fox in her re-election battle this year.
“Whitney Fox?” Luna asked, before brushing off concerns about the race.
“I’m always open to advice but to be completely transparent, I’m in an R+8 so we’re not super worried. Has he seen a survey or something like that?” she asked.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna arrives at a candidate forum with House Republicans in the Longworth House Office Building on October 11, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Hearing from Democrats, she raised a lot of questions and has opposition,” the fake Abbott staffer responded.
Another screenshot of the text exchange shows the impersonator from Abbott’s office questioning Luna about his border policy and asking, “What do you want the governor to say about the border,” but Luna stopped responding. The person then asked Luna, “Are you there?” before launching into a series of personal attacks.
“You’re really smart, APL. But you’re going to lose. At least you still have your fake t-shirts,” one text read.
“A fake smile. A fake life. A fake Jewish person,” the messages continued. “If you were a real Jew, you wouldn’t text on the Sabbath.”
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Luna said she believes the scheme was designed by a liberal PAC that has targeted other lawmakers, including Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert. Boebert told Fox News Digital that she had set up a meeting with the alleged Abbott staffer when she received similar text messages — a meeting she said could have left her in a “dangerous and compromising situation” if she had actually attended.
Boebert told Fox News Digital that during the 2024 Republican National Convention in July, her staff received text messages from someone posing as Abbott’s chief of staff.
“The phone number used, which had an Austin, Texas area code, claimed that Governor Abbott wanted to meet with me,” Boebert said. She also accused a liberal PAC of carrying out the scheme, which involved sending her office “numerous details and text messages, including a room number at a specific hotel where many VIPs were staying” for a meeting.
Rep. Lauren Boebert told Fox News Digital that during the 2024 Republican National Convention in July, her staff received text messages from someone posing as Abbott’s chief of staff. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The meeting never took place, however, as Boebert understood that “it was all a hoax,” but said, “If there had been a credible threat waiting for my arrival, it could have been a dangerous and compromising situation for my staff and me.”
“People involved in this dubious organization tend to behave in a mentally disturbed manner and are likely to cause harm if given the opportunity,” she said. “These sad, obsessed stalkers should be placed on a law enforcement watch list.”
Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz was also allegedly targeted and exchanged text messages with someone he believed worked in Abbott’s office about an endorsement during the primary season, screenshots of the text messages released by a liberal PAC on X show.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill on November 30, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the PAC and its chairman via direct messages on X but did not receive a response.
Fox News Digital also called the number that originally sent Luna the text message and left a message inquiring about it, but did not receive a callback.
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The revelation of the scheme against Luna comes as she faces additional harassment in her Florida constituency. Luna was first elected to Congress in 2022.
On Saturday, Luna posted a lengthy statement on social media explaining that supporters of her political opponent, whom she did not name in the post, launched a social media campaign on Friday “to publicly disclose, coordinate and solicit individuals to send threatening packages to my home address.”
“If she is ‘hiding,’ I know where she lives if anyone is interested in sending her a love letter… something. She lives right around the corner,” read a message posted to the Fox campaign’s Facebook account, according to Luna.
Luna said he contacted the FBI, the local sheriff’s office and police about the threatening messages. The sheriff’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital that it was investigating the matter. The FBI told Fox Digital when asked about the matter that, under Justice Department policy, it “cannot confirm or deny the existence of a specific investigation,” because the agency cannot “comment on complaints or information that we may or may not receive from the public.”
Luna unequivocally denounced all political violence in a comment to Fox Digital, and said the threatening social media posts surfaced after her political opponent called her a “threat to democracy.”
Anna Paulina Luna attends a news conference at the Capitol Visitor Center on February 6, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Political violence should never be tolerated,” Luna said Sunday. “After calling me a ‘threat to democracy,’ my opponent has yet to condemn the doxxing of his supporters or request that threatening packages be sent to my home. All of this was done publicly on his social media.”
Luna then cited the July assassination attempt on former President Trump, and on Sunday, there was an apparent second attempt on Trump’s life.
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“This speaks to a larger problem,” Luna said of the harassment she faces. “The radical left is using rhetoric that hurts people. Mind you, this is just a few months after an assassination attempt on President Trump. I am one of the most targeted members of Congress, and his supporters were soliciting strangers to send me things to my home address (which they provided). It’s not only abhorrent, it’s shameful. I have a baby at home.”
“I will never tolerate this type of behavior and I thank my supporters for not engaging in this violent rhetoric,” Luna added.
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