You may not have heard of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a recently elected Republican congresswoman from Florida, but within MAGA circles, she’s known for her alleged interest in the practice of witchcraft and even an accusation of having a tryst with Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The allegations were leveled at Luna by Matt Tito, a friend of Roger Stone’s and failed candidate who ran for the 68th District in Florida in 2020 but lost to Democratic incumbent Ben Diamond.
According to reporting by The Daily Beast, Luna has hired the law firm Holland Knight in the hopes of getting an apology from Tito over claims he made on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show.
RELATED STORY: Pence’s former chief of staff slays Rep. Matt Gaetz in just a few short but incendiary sentences
In October, Luna’s attorney, David J. Lisko, wrote a letter to Tito demanding a video apology retracting the “defamatory statements” he made on the show, adding that his comments were knowingly untrue or “said in gross negligence, knowing the statements were highly implausible and unlikely to be true.”
“You said that Ms. Luna (a devout Christian) practices witchcraft. … You are hereby demanded to publicly and immediately retract each and every defamatory statement you made about Ms. Luna on the show,” Lisko added. “Because you do not have the ability to distribute your retraction widely on your social media, you are demanded to apologize and retract your statements on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show or by making a retraction and apology video that you send to me that Ms. Luna will distribute via her social media.”
According to The Daily Beast, Tito is sticking with his allegations.
“I didn’t wake up one morning when I was going on the Bubba the Love Sponge show and say, ‘I am going to pull a bunch of stuff out of my ass and talk about it,’” Tito said. He says his claims came from Paloma Zuniga, a Hispanics for Trump member, who said that Luna “practices witchcraft” and “puts spells on people.”
Omar Navarro, another losing Republican congressional candidate, told The Daily Beast that the rumors about Luna are swirling among the GOP.
This is the same Navarro who lost to Rep. Maxine Waters in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022.
In 2019, Navarro was arrested on stalking charges. He was dating DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero at the time, a “MAGA relationship expert,” according to Los Angeles Magazine, until she got a five-year restraining order against him. Navarro served six months in jail.
In 2020, Lorraine ran against incumbent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but lost in the primary.
As for the speculation about Luna’s affair with Gaetz, his spokesperson told The Daily Beast the “lies” were just out there to discredit Luna because of her lack of support for Kevin McCarthy.
The spat between Luna and Tito goes back to an injunction she filed in 2021, accusing him of working with another candidate in a plan to “murder” her.
The allegations against Luna could be true or could be contrived, but in the party of QAnon MAGA world, one never knows for sure.
When The Daily Beast attempted to follow up with Luna on Tito’s allegations Tuesday, the congresswoman ignored questions.
The allegations were leveled at Luna by Matt Tito, a friend of Roger Stone’s and failed candidate who ran for the 68th District in Florida in 2020 but lost to Democratic incumbent Ben Diamond.
According to reporting by The Daily Beast, Luna has hired the law firm Holland Knight in the hopes of getting an apology from Tito over claims he made on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show.
RELATED STORY: Pence’s former chief of staff slays Rep. Matt Gaetz in just a few short but incendiary sentences
In October, Luna’s attorney, David J. Lisko, wrote a letter to Tito demanding a video apology retracting the “defamatory statements” he made on the show, adding that his comments were knowingly untrue or “said in gross negligence, knowing the statements were highly implausible and unlikely to be true.”
“You said that Ms. Luna (a devout Christian) practices witchcraft. … You are hereby demanded to publicly and immediately retract each and every defamatory statement you made about Ms. Luna on the show,” Lisko added. “Because you do not have the ability to distribute your retraction widely on your social media, you are demanded to apologize and retract your statements on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show or by making a retraction and apology video that you send to me that Ms. Luna will distribute via her social media.”
According to The Daily Beast, Tito is sticking with his allegations.
“I didn’t wake up one morning when I was going on the Bubba the Love Sponge show and say, ‘I am going to pull a bunch of stuff out of my ass and talk about it,’” Tito said. He says his claims came from Paloma Zuniga, a Hispanics for Trump member, who said that Luna “practices witchcraft” and “puts spells on people.”
Omar Navarro, another losing Republican congressional candidate, told The Daily Beast that the rumors about Luna are swirling among the GOP.
This is the same Navarro who lost to Rep. Maxine Waters in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022.
In 2019, Navarro was arrested on stalking charges. He was dating DeAnna Lorraine Tesoriero at the time, a “MAGA relationship expert,” according to Los Angeles Magazine, until she got a five-year restraining order against him. Navarro served six months in jail.
In 2020, Lorraine ran against incumbent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but lost in the primary.
As for the speculation about Luna’s affair with Gaetz, his spokesperson told The Daily Beast the “lies” were just out there to discredit Luna because of her lack of support for Kevin McCarthy.
The spat between Luna and Tito goes back to an injunction she filed in 2021, accusing him of working with another candidate in a plan to “murder” her.
The allegations against Luna could be true or could be contrived, but in the party of QAnon MAGA world, one never knows for sure.
When The Daily Beast attempted to follow up with Luna on Tito’s allegations Tuesday, the congresswoman ignored questions.