State Rep. Craig Haggard isn’t playing politics right now. He’s playing defense — not for himself, but for his wife, who was reportedly targeted in an alleged deepfake video that falsely depicted her topless during a charity event.
The Mooresville Republican said he found out about the existence of the supposed video while driving back from Florida. Since then, it’s been nonstop calls with prosecutors, investigators, and statehouse colleagues — most of whom, he says, aren’t taking the situation nearly as seriously as they should.
“At the end of the day, I’m a husband first,” Haggard told reporters. “I don’t scream at everything. But my wife is my priority.”
According to a report by 24SightNews’ Tom LoBianco, the video was viewed by two staffers in Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s office back in April. The Indiana Capital Chronicle has not been able to independently confirm the existence of the video. Beckwith himself claimed at a recent Terre Haute town hall that he reviewed employee communications and found no trace of the incident.
But Haggard’s not convinced — and he’s not willing to let it go.
“This is a serious, horrible allegation. And I don’t think leaders are taking the issue seriously enough,” he said. “It needs to be an independent investigation. You need to open your doors and say, ‘We’re not guilty. Come look at it.’ That’s how you prove them wrong.”
You can hear the complete interview in the audio above.
While the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed it is investigating, Haggard also had pointed words for Governor Mike Braun, who downplayed the incident on Tuesday by saying each state office “is going to have to do its own accountability.”
Haggard didn’t mince words: “I didn’t like the response from the governor’s office saying, ‘Not our problem,’ because I think that’s a cop-out and sort of disgusting. It is your problem. I get it — the two offices aren’t fond of each other. But it’s still your administration.”
He says Braun should have taken a stronger stand: “These are horrible, serious allegations. We don’t condone any behavior like this, either way, and we will do everything we can to get to the bottom of it, period.”
This isn’t just another inside baseball spat among Republicans. It’s personal. It’s raw. And it’s dragging the Statehouse into dangerous territory.
Haggard hasn’t seen the video himself — and at this point, he doesn’t even know if it exists. But that doesn’t change the damage already done. “True or untrue,” he said, “my wife’s been dragged into this. She’s embarrassed. She doesn’t want to come to the Statehouse anymore.”
Under a 2023 law passed by the General Assembly, creating or distributing nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes is a misdemeanor in Indiana. It’s also a federal offense.
