Politics
Fabián Basabe emerges from social media hiatus to chorus of calls for his resignation
Miami Beach Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe returned to social media this month for the first time since he was found liable for sexually harassing, battering and defaming two former House employees.
It didn’t go especially well for the embattled lawmaker.
On Aug. 4, he posted pictures of his dog, writing, “I woke up to this …”
“No you woke up to a sexual harassment case you lost!!!! Loser,” one person — the only responder — wrote on Facebook.
Basabe didn’t post again until Aug. 17 to lament the death of actress Hayden Panettiere, whom he called a friend. The post received 75 individual engagements and 15 comments on Facebook, all offering condolences.
Responses were similarly warm on Instagram. On X, where discourse is frequently less civil, the comments were uniformly negative, referencing Basabe’s legal woes.
The goodwill Basabe garnered didn’t last. On Aug. 23, he returned to a frequent topic of his: Miami Beach’s homelessness ordinance, which he’s argued — for more than a year — doesn’t comport with relevant state restrictions on sleeping in public.
He posted screenshots of a three-page statement about a recent violent attack in Surfside and its relevance to Miami Beach’s homelessness ordinance on Facebook — first to his personal page, then to the group Miami Beach Residents, which has roughly 10,700 members and lists him as an “All-star contributor.”
“How many more people need to get hurt before Miami Beach publicly debates its local homeless ordinance and its conflict with state law?” he wrote. “The revolving door has to stop.”
Suffice it to say, the people who took time to respond to the post were less interested in arguing homelessness policy than demanding he resign, which he vowed he would do if any of the sexual harassment charges proved true.
“Good idea. Why don’t you resign (as you promised!) so voters can elect someone who can actually tackle these problems? We don’t want our state capital to become a revolving door of sexual harassers. If you believe in ‘Accountability’ then maybe you should demonstrate some and step down,” one person wrote on Basabe’s personal page.
Someone else added, “deflection is a thing. Hence this post,” while another wrote, “Wow that’s terrible. It’s also terrible that a representative was found liable for sexual battery, sexual harassment, and defamation and ordered to pay almost half a million dollars and yet he’s still in office. Crazy right?”
The responses weren’t any kinder on the Miami Beach group page, where Basabe shared a link to his personal page post.
“When are you going to resign perv,” one person wrote.
“Why is this creep still in office,” wrote another.
A third wrote, “Fabián Basabe Resign! You do not represent us. Do not try to normalize. It’s not happening. Go away and do not come back.”
Another: “Fabian pay the $450k judgment you owe to your staffers, you creepy deadbeat.”
Of 20 responses to both posts, just six engaged with the topic Basabe proffered.
A jury found Basabe liable July 15 of sexual harassment, battery and defamation after roughly two hours of deliberation, awarding $450,000 to former aide Nicolas Frevola and former intern Jacob Cutbirth.
The men accused Basabe of slapping Frevola’s face and buttocks, groping and attempting to kiss Cutbirth, making repeated unwelcome sexual remarks and defaming Frevola and his mother, Janette Frevola, in a social media post.
Court records and video show at least five men have accused Basabe of sexual impropriety, including an anonymous witness who testified that Basabe drugged and raped him in Malibu in 2003, a House aide who said Basabe pulled him into a bedroom at his Shiloh home in an effort to sleep with him, and an aide-turned-lobbyist who said in sworn testimony that Basabe propositioned him for a threesome.
Basabe, who denies any wrongdoing, rested without calling a single witness after blundering through the three-day trial, during which he repeatedly violated court restrictions while using artificial intelligence to bolster his unsuccessful defense.
The political fallout has been steady. Multiple officials who backed his re-election have rescinded their endorsements, and five of seven members of the Miami Beach Commission have called for his resignation.
About two weeks after the verdict, Basabe enlisted the services of lawyer Peter Ticktin, a longtime friend of Donald Trump, to seek a retrial, a reduction or elimination of the awarded damages and to disqualify the Judge in the case.
Basabe has until Sept. 29 to file a notice of appeal.
A sophomore lawmaker and the son of a wealthy Ecuadorian businessman who dabbled in reality TV in the mid-2000s, Basabe is set to face former Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Báez-Geller in the General Election for the seat representing House District 106.
The district covers a coastal strip of Miami-Dade between Miami Beach and Aventura. Trump carried the district by 9 points in 2024, according to MCI Maps, after former President Joe Biden won it by 10 points four years before.
Basabe has represented House District 106 since 2022, when he won the coastal Miami-Dade seat by only 240 votes. He improved in 2024, winning by approximately 4 points.
Florida Politics ranked the HD 106 contest seventh on its list of the 11 races to watch in South Florida.
The post Fabián Basabe emerges from social media hiatus to chorus of calls for his resignation appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..