Liz Cheney Primary Challenger Admits Impregnating 14-Year-Old When He Was 18
State Sen. Anthony Bouchard (R-WY), who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for the 2022 Republican nomination for Wyoming’s at-large House seat, has admitted he impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18. Bouchard disclosed the relationship with the girl during a Facebook Live video on Thursday. He did not initially specify her age, but subsequently revealed it to the Casper Star Tribune hours later.
Bouchard told the Tribune he married the girl when they were 19 and 15, respectively. The pair were married in 1984 in Florida, which at the time allowed people of any age to wed with parental consent, so long as a judge approved and pregnancy was involved.
“So, bottom line, it’s a story when I was young, two teenagers, girl gets pregnant,” he said on Facebook Live. “You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story.”
The couple divorced after about three years of marriage. Bouchard’s wife committed suicide at age of 20.
He said he and the girl were pressured to terminate the pregnancy.
“A lot of pressure,” said Bouchard. “Pressure to abort a baby. I got to tell you. I wasn’t going to do it, and neither was she.”
“And there was pressure to have her banished from their family. Just pressure. Pressure to go hide somewhere. And the only thing I could see as the right thing to do was to get married and take care of him.”
Bouchard said he made the video because he wanted to get in front of the story after a reported from a U.K. media outlet contacted him with questions about the relationship. In the video he decried “dirty politics” and “the establishment swamp.”
He said he continued to raise his son after his ex-wife’s death, but added that “[h]e’s almost become my estranged son.”
“Sadly, he’s made some wrong choices in his life,” said Bouchard. “I certainly don’t approve of them. But I’m not going to abandon him. I still love him. Just like when he was born.”
According to a report published Friday by the U.K.’s The Daily Mail, Bouchard’s son Tony Bouchard, 36, is awaiting trial in California on five sex-related felony charges involving a 51-year-old woman, including sodomy by use of force.
Anthony Bouchard is one of several Republicans to declare a primary challenge against Cheney, who has drawn severe criticism for her opposition to former President Donald Trump, including her vote to impeach him for incitement to insurrection. She has also criticized him repeatedly for lying about the 2024 election being stolen from him through alleged voter fraud.
