Arizona GOP lawmaker resigns after pestering staffers to have his baby

Republican Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona is resigning next month after revelations that he asked two female staffers to become surrogate mothers for him and his wife.

One former aide told The Associated Press the congressman repeatedly pressed her to carry his child, at one point offering her $5 million to act as a surrogate.

Politico reported that the women didn't know whether Franks wanted to impregnate them through intercourse in vitro fertilization. One of them complained that Franks retaliated against her for refusing to have his baby.

A fiery conservative, Franks vehemently opposes abortion rights as well as procedures that discard embryos, which occurs often as a consequence of the in vitro-fertilization process.

In a statement, Franks said that he never physically intimidated, coerced or attempted to have any sexual contact with any member of his congressional staff.

Instead, he says, the dispute resulted from a discussion of surrogacy. Franks and his wife, who have struggled with infertility, have 3-year-old twins who were conceived through surrogacy.

Franks, 60, says he had become familiar with the surrogacy process in recent years and “became insensitive as to how the discussion of such an intensely personal topic might affect others.”

The eight-term lawmaker said he regrets that his “discussion of this option and process in the workplace” with two female staffers made them feel uncomfortable.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan called the allegations “serious and requiring action” and said he told Franks he should resign.

Franks said he’d step down effective Jan. 31.

In a one-page statement, the House Ethics Committee said its members were examining whether Franks “engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment and/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment.” The statement provided no further detail and noted that while it was establishing an investigative subcommittee, that did not mean any violation of law or House rules had occurred.

Ethics is unlikely to proceed in light of the resignation.

Franks has been a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. He’s a staunch social conservative who sponsored House-passed legislation to make it a crime for any person to perform an abortion if the age of the fetus is 20 weeks or more.

Franks is a strong backer of President Donald Trump and has embraced some of his stances on social issues. Franks has harshly criticized some NFL players for not standing during the national anthem, calling them “arrogant and overpaid Lilliputians who dishonor America.”

Before winning election to Congress, Franks served in the Arizona Legislature and founded the Arizona Family Research Institute, an organization associated with Dr. James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family.” The institute seeks to demonize LGBT people and aggressively opposes their civil rights.

A senior congressional official said Ryan’s general counsel was contacted about two weeks ago by someone with information about “troubling behavior” by Franks directed at a former staffer. The behavior occurred when the staffer worked for Franks.

Ryan’s lawyer interviewed the former staffer and a second former staffer who had a similar complaint that the speaker’s office verified through a third party.

After Ryan brought the claims to Franks, he filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee and asked Franks to resign.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to freely describe the allegations.

WiG staffer Louis Weisberg contributed to this story.