Lauren Boebert's Messiest Controversies Ever
The following article mentions a mass shooting, allegations of sexual abuse, and allegations of domestic abuse.
Lauren Boebert is no stranger to messy controversy or drumming up attention. In 2019, she became a household name when she went viral in her home district for confronting then-presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke during his speech about gun laws. While he was taking questions, Boebert, who had no prior political experience at that point, took the mic to ask one of her own. "I was one of the gun-owning Americans that heard your speech and heard what you had to say regarding, 'Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15s and your AK-47,'" she started. "Well, I am here to say, 'Hell no. You're not.'" She quickly caught the attention of outlets like Fox News and the National Review, and she went on to win a seat in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District in 2020. .
However, the support for Boebert in the 3rd district eventually began to wane, and in 2022, she beat Democratic nominee Adam Frisch only by 542 votes. In 2024, Boebert plans to run for Colorado's 4th Congressional District, a region where she believes she has a better chance at winning. As she told the AP, "I don't want the left to have a chance to buy the seat from us, and their only argument is me." Needless to say, the controversies that've plagued Boebert have yet to deter the polarizing politician.
Lauren Boebert got into trouble with the law before she became a politician
Few politicians don't have a skeleton or two in their closet, but Lauren Boebert's closet is chock-full of them. According to the New York Post, Lauren's first brush with authorities occurred in 2004 when she attacked her then-boyfriend (and future ex-husband), Jayson Boebert, who previously spent seven days in jail after Lauren pressed charges against him for physical abuse. (Shortly before that, Jayson spent time behind bars after exposing himself at a bowling alley.) Lauren, who was 17 at the time, was charged with underage drinking, third-degree assault, and criminal mischief.
In 2010, Lauren had another brush with the law after she got into an altercation with her neighbor. As the Denver Post recounted, the neighbor complained about Lauren's pit bulls running loose around the neighborhood, and allegedly proceeded to harass her neighbor. The neighbor ended up pressing charges, but Lauren was never convicted.
According to Colorado Newsline, Lauren got herself in trouble with the law twice in 2015, first after trying to keep police from arresting teenagers at a country music festival for underage drinking and a second time for failing to show up to court. 2016 brought more legal woes, with Lauren getting charged with careless driving. However, as noted in the Colorado Times Recorder, she failed to show up to court again and was arrested. She eventually pleaded guilty to the charges.
She reportedly left her son and sister-in-law after getting in an accident
In 2019 — the same year she was running for Congress — Lauren Boebert crashed a Jeep ATV. Her passengers included her son, her dog, and her sister-in-law, Tori Hooper. And apparently, Boebert fled the scene and left the other three behind. At least, that's what an unnamed source who spoke to the Daily Mail in 2022 alleged. No 911 call was ever made to report the accident.
"It was pretty crazy. She [Boebert] got out of the driver's seat and left Tori screaming and freaking out, and her son and dog in the back seat," the source told the Daily Mail. "Tori couldn't get out of her seatbelt, so she grabbed the steering wheel. She's steering into a cliff. They hit a rock wall; it struck her whole face. It was bad." The source claimed that, in the aftermath of the accident, Boebert told Tori that she would cover all her medical bills if she kept this hush-hush. Hooper had insurance, so Boebert never paid a dime.
Hooper's mother, Stephanie Bohochi, backed the unnamed source's claims. "[Tori] got stuck inside of a crevice in the Jeep while Lauren sort of, kind of took off her belt and slipped out," she said to the Daily Mail. Boebert's spokesperson told the Daily Mail that she did not intentionally flee, but was "ejected" from the ATV.
Lauren Boebert was accused of initiating an affair
Before she got into politics, Lauren Boebert ran a restaurant called Shooters Grill. And allegedly, she attempted to seduce one of her employees, a chef named Matt Archambault. In 2023, Archambault's estranged wife, Jennifer Martinez, told the Daily Mail that Boebert initiated an affair with the chef. According to Martinez, Boebert showered Archambault with gifts, invited him to travel with her, and even offered him a cruise ticket. "She made it all about her. She became enmeshed in our lives," Martinez claimed. "It got to a point where he was more involved with her and her kids than he was with me and our son." According to Martinez, Boebert and Archambault began spending more and more time together alone behind their respective spouses' backs. "She's a bad, bad woman. She made it so hard for me to get the help that I needed. She ruined my life," Martinez said.
Boebert ended up getting a restraining order after Martinez allegedly barged into Boebert's mother's house; Martinez alleged she'd been harassed by Boebert. There were claims about angry messages, and Martinez even defaced Boebert's driver's license by scrawling "Witch Jezebel" and "Demonic Whore/Fake" across the front and back. A rep for Boebert told the Daily Mail that she never had an affair with Archambault.
The intent of her January 6 tweets was called into question
Critics called for Lauren Boebert's resignation after it appeared that she tried to aid insurrectionists on January 6, 2021. As protestors stormed the Capitol, Boebert tweeted several times, first to share that the House chambers had become lawmakers' refuge during the riot and then again to reveal that Nancy Pelosi was no longer in the chambers. As noted by the Independent, there were questions surrounding the intent of Boebert's tweets — especially the one about where Pelosi wasn't located. It was no secret that rioters were looking for the speaker of the House, as there are recordings of them chanting her name as they made their way to her office. While Boebert did not explicitly share Pelosi's exact whereabouts, there were concerns about whether or not Boebert was telling insurrectionists where not to look.
Boebert also made it clear that she was not accepting the election results in Arizona in a speech she delivered on the House floor shortly before the attack on the Capitol was fully underway. "Madame Speaker, I have constituents outside this building right now and I promised to be their voice. It is my separate but equal obligation to weigh in on this election and object," she said.
Following the insurrection, Boebert denied attempting to provide the rioters with Pelosi's location. "I do not support unlawful acts of violence and support the rule of law. Furthermore, my tweets came after both events referenced occurred and I never disclosed secure locations," she said in a statement (via Colorado Newsline).
She made Islamophobic remarks about one of her fellow representatives
In a video taken at a 2021 event attended by Lauren Boebert, the congresswoman could be heard making offensive comments about her fellow representative, Ilhan Omar. Boebert told the crowd that Omar was once mistaken for a terrorist in the Capitol building. "We get in the elevator and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. And he's reaching. The door is shutting. I can't open it," she told the crowd. She then recalled how she realized Representative Omar was with her in the elevator. "I said, 'Well she doesn't have a backpack, we should be fine,'" Boebert said. "I look over and I say, 'Look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.'" She then assured the crowd that they needn't worry that she'd get in trouble for the joke, saying that Omar was "not tough in person" and doesn't speak up for herself, instead relying on her staff to do so.
Omar took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to tell everyone that Boebert made the whole tale up and called the congresswoman a "buffoon." "Normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims," she wrote. Boebert eventually issued an apology.
She shared a photo of her kids holding guns after a school shooting
In December 2021, Lauren Boebert had the internet seeing red when she posted her family's holiday card on social media. The picture, which features her and her four sons holding guns, was released shortly after a 15-year-old killed four of his classmates in a school shooting in Oxford, Michigan. On top of that, the teenager who shot his classmates did so with a gun he received as an early Christmas present.
Boebert posted the image on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Representative Thomas Massie's holiday picture of his family showing off their guns. "The Boeberts have your six, @RepThomasMassie!" Boebert captioned the post. To say that the photograph of her minor children posing with their rifles in front of a Christmas tree was poorly received by many would be an understatement.
Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was one of the many public figures who spoke out against the post. "Tell me again where Christ said 'use the commemoration of my birth to flex violent weapons for personal political gain'?" she wrote on X. "lol @ all the years Republicans spent on cultural hysteria of society 'erasing Christmas and it's meaning' when they're doing that fine all on their own."
Her feud with Marjorie Taylor Greene got completely out of hand
Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene's feud boiled over on the House floor in June 2023. Though the two are members of the same political party, their competing resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden put them at odds.
Witnesses told The Daily Beast that Greene accused Boebert of plagiarizing her work. "You copied my articles of impeachment after I asked you to cosponsor them," Greene reportedly told Boebert. Several witnesses said that Greene called Boebert a "b**ch" during the exchange. One GOP lawmaker, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the exchange did indeed take place, after which Boebert told Greene that she was done with her. "OK, Marjorie, we're through," she reportedly said before turning her back on her former ally. "We were never together," Greene clapped back.
Boebert not only did not deny that the exchange took place, but she maintained that she didn't see Greene as her enemy. As she later told CNN's Manu Raju, "Like I said, I'm not in middle school." Greene clapped back, telling The Daily Beast, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery."
Lauren Boebert's unseemly behavior at a theater production made headlines
One of Lauren Boebert's most embarrassing public moments was arguably when she forgot the basic principles of public decency during a musical production of "Beetlejuice" in September 2023. Boebert and her date, a man named Quinn Gallagher, were seen feeling each other up during the family-friendly show. Aside from these antics, Boebert was also said to have been vaping, taking pictures, and singing loudly.
Other patrons soon became agitated by Boebert and her date's rowdy behavior and complained to theater officials, who then asked Boebert and Gallagher to be respectful of their fellow theatergoers. "The patrons were argumentative, saying they were in concert with everyone around them. I again informed them it was a group experience, and they would be asked to leave if they continued," an official told CNN in a report. Things escalated when Boebert continued with her antics, and when she and her date were asked to leave, they refused to do so at first but were eventually escorted outside. In video footage of the incident, Boebert appeared to flash her middle finger at the theater official as she was escorted outside.
Rumors soon began to swirl that Boebert got kicked out of the theater, and she responded with a tweet. "It's true, I did thoroughly enjoy the AMAZING Beetlejuice at the Buell Theatre and I plead guilty to laughing and singing too loud!" she wrote. She later issued an official apology, blaming her recent divorce for her behavior.
Her antics at a December 2023 gala raised eyebrows
A few months after she got kicked out of the "Beetlejuice" show, rumors regarding Lauren Boebert's behavior at a GOP gala left critics cringing. Apparently, Boebert enjoyed the bubbly at the grand event a little too much. As an unnamed source told CNN, the politician apparently was cut off by waitstaff at one point, as she supposedly had been overserved.
Boebert also attempted to snap a selfie with former President Donald Trump during the event. Sources who were there told CNN that Trump did not pay Boebert any mind and didn't appear keen to take a picture. Boebert's attempts reportedly became so bothersome at one point that Trump's security detail asked her to stop trying to take a picture with the former president. This incident didn't appear to damage Boebert's relationship with Trump, who still endorsed her campaign later that month.
She was accused of punching her ex-husband in the face
Lauren Boebert kicked 2024 off on a low note when she and her ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, got into a serious fight. In early January, Jayson called the police and alleged Lauren had punched him in the face. An aide of Lauren's told The Daily Beast that she and her husband already had a disagreement earlier that day when she went to pick up one of her kids. When Jayson attempted to hug her goodbye, Lauren pushed him away. Jayson reportedly apologized, and when the two met up at a restaurant later, they got into another argument.
According to Lauren's aide, Jayson allegedly attempted to grab Lauren at one point, and Lauren resisted. "[S]he put her hand in his face, put her hand on his nose," the aide said. It was right after this altercation that Jayson called the police to lay charges against Lauren. Lauren denied punching him and called the police right after the incident, stating that she was willing to clarify what really happened. The police didn't arrest her and her ex eventually dropped the charges. Jayson had to be forcibly removed from the restaurant.
Lauren filed a restraining order against Jayson in the wake of the restaurant incident and a separate altercation involving Jayson and their son.
Lauren Boebert's son was arrested in 2024
Lauren Boebert's family situation continues to plague her political career. As if her tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband wasn't enough, Lauren has also had to contend with her oldest son's scandals. Tyler Boebert has his own legal history, dating back to 2022 when he faced charges for careless driving causing bodily injury after crashing his car and seriously injuring a friend. Tyler was 17 years old at the time of the crash.
In February 2024, Tyler was arrested on 22 counts, including breaking into cars and stealing property, according to The New Republic. Tyler, who turned 19 in March 2024, is suspected of being part of a group of people who stole several credit cards and wallets. He was named a suspect after he was spotted in security footage. Following his arrest, the affidavit showed that Tyler allegedly made a sex tape with another suspect. The tape was allegedly sent to people who know Tyler and the unnamed girl, who is a minor.
After the allegations surfaced, Lauren cited the challenges Tyler faced growing up in the spotlight but said that he "will take responsibility for his actions and should be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen."
She tried to shut down a pro-Palestine protest
Lauren Boebert's scandals are following her wherever she goes, and during a pro-Palestine protest in May 2024, she was reminded that her conduct at a 2023 production of the "Beetlejuice" musical was still seared into the minds of Americans.
While trying to speak to a crowd of pro-Palestine protestors at George Washington University, Boebert tried to pull a Palestinian flag down from the George Washington statue on campus. "This is America, and that sh** needs to come down," she told the surrounding students, who attempted to stop her from ripping off the flag. "It's not your property," one bystander said to Boebert. As she continued to make her way through the crowd, students started chanting "Beetlejuice."
When Boebert eventually addressed the crowd, she didn't mince words. "Not only is this disgusting but let me be clear: Almost every single person in this so-called 'liberated zone' would be eviscerated by the very terrorists you are standing here supporting," she said, as reported by The Daily Beast. She called out specific signs, reading messages like "Queer and trans folks for a liberated Palestine" and "Gays for Gaza." There were also some "Beetlejuice" signs, clearly made in an attempt to mock Boebert. She then threatened that she would get Congress to pull federal funding to the university should the protests continue.
If you or anyone you know may be the victim of sexual abuse, is dealing with domestic abuse, or has been impacted by incidents of mass violence, contact the relevant resources below:
- Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
- Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
- Call or text Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 for support.