While Luna’s 2022 campaign soars with President Trump’s endorsement and headlining a fundraiser in Mar-a-Lago next month, lies about her past continue to surface including her and husband’s divorce and remarriage within a year
From the desk of John Lopez: If anyone runs for public office, especially a high profile race where control of the U.S. House of Representatives could be in the balance, everything about a candidate will come out.
Especially if there is a paper trail filed in courts in multiple states.
In addition to the candidate in question, Anna Paulina Luna (R, FL-13) being a friend of former IL-16 Republican candidate Catalina Lauf (R, Woodstock), who has received $3,500 in financial support from Lauf’s Defense of Freedom PAC through June 30, 2021, this follow-up story to a previous article being shared because in the interim period, documented proof Luna lied in early September of 2021 just more proof, lies will be exposed in a campaign.
Luna was the 2020 nominee in FL-13 who lost to Congressman Charlie Crist (D) last November in a district where she underperformed President Trump by 5 percentage points.
With Crist running for governor and a very likely favorable remap by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, the FL-13 is an open seat where Luna will face 2020 Republican primary runner-up Amanda Makki, and possibly 3 other candidates in the winner-take-all primary on August 23.
By all metrics, Luna’s campaign is flying high, including an endorsement by President Trump in mid-September, the House Freedom Caucus endorsement at the end of September, and an independent poll from reliable pollster St. Pete Polls released just over a month ago showing Luna with a commanding lead of 38% though 52% were undecided, and with a push poll question about the Trump endorsement, Luna’s lead ballooned to 64%.
And, President Trump headlines a $1K/plate fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in early December.
So what could go wrong when a candidate has the backing of President Trump? Ask Sean Parnell, the Millennial Republican candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania who had to suspend his campaign this week because of custody issues with his estranged wife.
In my honest opinion, Luna not telling the whole truth when confronted about her own past could torpedo her candidacy in FL-13, just as the push question about the Trump endorsement in the recent poll spiked Luna’s numbers, negative pushes can work the opposite through effective negative/attack ads on TV.
On October 4, McHenry County Blog published information about the revelation Luna worked in a strip club back in early 2014 in Fort Walton Beach, and how close Trump ally Roger Stone predicted Luna would lose Trump’s backing once the truth got out.
Last month’s article included portions of a Peter Schorsch of Florida Politics (FP) September 5, 2021 interview, by Scorsch, questioning Luna (APL) on the revelation of working at a striptease establishment (euphemistically referred to as “gentlemen’s club”).
Here’s the most relevant portion published last month with emphasis added:
“Florida Politics unearthed documents that raise some new questions; Luna agreed to be interviewed provide direct answers.
“A tough conversation with Anna Paulina Luna” by Peter Schorsch, Florida Politics, September 5, 2021
“FP: Court documents from early 2014 show that you briefly worked as a cocktail waitress at a gentlemen’s club while living in Fort Walton Beach. In a court filing, you wrote that you picked up this cocktail waitressing job to bring in quick money needed to travel to visit your husband at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was recovering after being shot in Afghanistan. Given where it was, some people say this job should raise concerns about you and your character. What is the real story, and what do you say to that?
“APL: In January 2014, my husband, Andy, was shot in Afghanistan by al-Qaida fighters. I was out of the Air Force and in college at the time, and we were struggling as it was to make things work on a military salary. When I received word that Andy had been shot, I immediately scrambled to come up with the money to see him.
“The military doesn’t always pay for family to see their recovering service member, and they wouldn’t pay for mine. We were always struggling to make ends meet on military wages as it was, and I was in college on top of that.
“I’ve never experienced so-called ‘family money.’ We never had that. So, I called a friend who bartended at a local club to see if I could get a waitressing job to make quick cash to see Andy. She got me the job, I worked a few shifts to earn the money I needed, and I quit and went to see him.”
.
The court documents in question has to do with a January 26, 2014 incident when Luna accused a woman of violating a restraining order at the strip club, identified as the Red Rose Gentlemen’s Club.
A Tampa-St. Petersburg vlogger (video blogger) named Bruce Poppy released a YouTube video on his unPOPular ViewPoint channel which revealed additional court documents, not in Fort Walton Beach, FL in 2014, but in California’s Orange County Superior Court filed in 2012, Luna’s petition for divorce from her husband Andy, filed under her maiden name of Anna Mayerhofer, listing her home address in Florida.
So according to this filing, Anna and Andy were married on November 11, 2010, and separated nearly 8 months later on July 7, 2011.
Anna filed for divorce on August 23, 2012, and it was granted by the court, effective February 23, 2013:
Given the divorce petition was referenced by vlogger Bruce Poppy,, his screenshot he displayed on his video revealed the case number. I was able to pull up the online record in Orange County, CA court records with the case number, so I verify these screenshots are accurate.
By the grace of God, in spite of the divorce being implemented, Anna and Andy were remarried, in early February of 2014, according to their marriage license being filed in Oskaloosa County, FL court:
Both Andy and Anna were physically present when applying for the marriage license, and both signed the marriage license, witnessed by the deputy clerk:
Now, with the court filings established as fact, let’s return to what Luna told Florida Politics on September 5 of this year:
“The military doesn’t always pay for family to see their recovering service member, and they wouldn’t pay for mine.“
The police report displayed on unPOPular ViewPoint dates the incident at the Red Rose Gentlemen’s Club took place in the early morning hours of January 26, 2014, and it references Luna began working at the strip club a few days earlier.
Please note, I’m not going to get into the argument of “was Luna working there as a cocktail waitress or a dancer”, the fact Luna confirms she worked there is the only valid point.
The date reference is crucial because it reveals the real reason the military didn’t pay for Luna’s passage money to see her recovering Andy because, given the divorce effective date and the 2nd marriage license issuance date, the two were not legally married when Andy was shot in Afghanistan in early 2014.
As shown above, Andy’s and Anna’s 2nd marriage license was dated with an issuance date of February 4, 2014, and they were legally divorced from February 23, 2013 to February 4, 2014.
As said earlier, it’s beautiful Anna Paulina Luna and her husband were able to save their marriage, in spite of being divorced for little over 11 months.
That said, telling the press, and by extension the voters, “husband” was shot serving our country, and then claiming the military doesn’t always pay for family members transport when the truth, Luna was not legally married to her husband in my honest opinion displays outright dishonesty.
Discerning voters will have to decide on August 23 in FL-13 next year, where Luna faces at least 4 other candidates (including 3 women).
But, given the truth Luna did work at a strip club, one can storyboard the attack ads, playing Vanity 6’s “Nasty Girl” for music (made famous from the strip club scene in Beverly Hills Cop in 1984), and voiceover telling about the lies Luna has said, compared with the truth and the context of working at a strip club.
The full podcast by unPOPular ViewPoint concerning Anna Paulina Luna’s records can be viewed here.
It’s hard to predict how scandalous but irrelevant facts play with voters.
Bob Menéndez still sits in the senate, Donald Trump successfully dismissed the pussy-grabbing bragging.
To me personally, I think she is unqualified by experience and education, but I don’t give a damn if she served drinks or shook her boobs at men wiling to pay for same.
The above comment implies Bob Menéndez’ corruption is irrelevant. It is not.
She was being misleading about the military by implying they wouldn’t pay for her to see her family when she was not legally married to Andy during the time she worked at the strip club, but I agree in part with Martin’s sentiment: this scandal, even assuming it gets some traction in the media, may not necessarily sink her campaign and voters often don’t care.
The title of this article could have just as easily been
“FL-13: Donald Trump Ally Anna Paulina Luna Caught in More Lies”
But I can see why you’re connecting Anna Paulina Luna to Catalina Lauf.
https://twitter.com/kimKBaltimore/status/1381222443541467137/photo/1
https://www.pinterest.com/annapaulina_LUNA/
https://twitter.com/JackLombardi/status/1407840231869632517
Another ally of Lauf is Kimberly Klacik who has her own strip club issues which readers can look up and have even been covered on this blog.
I knew there wasn’t something right with this woman just looking at those creepy eyes and eyebrows.
Wasn’t Kamala a stripper too before she met good ole Willie “Let’s Get It On” Brown.
Lauf is just another grifter looking to get on the take and will likely be the same embarrassment we have as our current VP except in Congress.
Correcting, I am aware of Kim Klacik’s own stripper issues, which were covered earlier this year on McHenry County Blog, including the excellent research published by Orlando Avendaño of El American during the summer.
There are differences between Lauf’s involvement with Luna and Klacik.
First, Lauf has, to date, given no money to Klacik’s campaign in 2020, or to Klacik’s Red Renaissance PAC from Lauf’s Defense of Freedom PAC.
Second, Lauf has not been seen publicly with Klacik, and they’ve stayed clear of each other on social media.
Last time Lauf and Klacik were together in a public event was late May when Lauf attended the Red Renaissance PAC kickoff in Baltimore.
If they’ve been in touch, particularly last Saturday when Lauf was in Maryland at the Navy football game, or during Lauf’s frequent trips to Florida, it’s been kept quiet on social media.
Lauf’s PAC has donated $3.5K to Luna’s campaign through June 30, including $1K for Luna’s fall 2020 campaign, and $2.5K for Luna’s 2022 campaign.
Additionally, Lauf has appeared on Luna’s podcast for interviews at least twice since the summer, plus the two have traveled together to Congressman Cawthorn’s wedding in April & Mar-a-Lago in mid April (Klacik was there, too).
I do plan to return to the Klacik story, once I can learn what happened to the lawsuit she filed against Candace Owens during the summer, which I did write about, as well as possible impacts to Lauf.
You are correct about Klacik’s own stripper issues.
I don’t believe the “madame” story published by Owens in June, but there is documented proof Klacik was a stripper, both in Baltimore and DC.
You guys spend alot of time on this Lauf stripper lady and her stripper friend when we know whatever district she runs in in IL, they will have cheating machines and ways perfected after the 2020 debacle.
Omicron is coming to get you so it doesn’t matter who you vote for.
JB ensured all registered voters get a mail in ballot application.
The media will scare those that perpetually live in fear.
Nothing to see there.
Move along.
Yeah, I’m just not really digging Lauf, Klacik, or Luna and especially the more I learn about them.
That UnPOPular ViewPoint YouTube video was a bombshell, man. For anybody reading this, I think it was about 48 minutes but was WELL worth the watch. You can view it on 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, or 2x speed if you want to save some time.
So many revelations about Luna and Makki I didn’t know about! So much wild stuff in there. What a shame he barely has 200 views! That guy did some Great investigative work and his reporting deserves to go viral. That video goes to show the importance of VETTING candidates, something Republican voters don’t always do a good job of.
The only thing I found objectionable in the video was the host downplaying that nutjob William Braddock making threats about some foreigner doing a hit on Luna. Whether the conversation was recorded illegally, whether there are no charges filed against him, and whether the FBI found it to not be credible is irrelevant to me: that kind of talk is terrible for a politician.
He has since dropped out of the race so obviously he knows he goofed up.
Even if the host doesn’t like Luna, which is understandable given the recent revelations, he shouldn’t make excuses for her opponent’s bad behavior.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Kudos to you for the good write-up/article on this too, John.
This doesn’t look very good for Trump who should have all sorts of information on candidates in order to properly vet them before making an endorsement.
If his handpicked candidates do poorly in 2022, it’s going to damage his brand badly; although I don’t want him to run in 2024 so maybe that would be a good thing if he got some egg on his face.
Comedy rarely ages well.
It generally has to be physical and ridiculous to have staying power, i.e. Three Stooges, MGM’s Dogville comedies, 70’s Monty Python.
Combat Strippers in D.C. checks off many boxes.
Lopez, go get a job in the DNC (but try not toget rubbed out like Seth Rich when you whistleblow
https://www.marketslant.com/article/fbi-murdered-dnc-staffer-did-have-links-wikileaks).
If this is all you have on Luna, go fly a kite.
Jesus Christ won’t be on the ballot.
Correcting, are you the loser called Steve Pokorny?
You sound like it, and even smell like it.
No, and anybody who has been on this blog who reads Pokorny’s comments know I don’t talk like him or share his views. In fact, I think one time I joined in on the fun when we were all calling him Poo KORNY which made him really mad and it was funny.
Pokorny would not take much interest in an article like this, and if he did comment the depth of his comment would probably just be to call Republicans inbred or hypocrites.
Do you need a safe space where people aren’t allowed to criticize Trump, Luna, and Lauf?
Amazing how you’re lashing out accusing John Lopez of being a Democrat and me of being Stephen Pokorny because we don’t say 100 percent positive things about your little cult candidates 100 percent of the time.
Triggered much?
We just want to vet candidates bro.
Trump has picked a lot of losers and he’ll almost certainly pick more losers! Better to vet candidates early than get stomped in November.
Correcting, I dislike you and Lauf.
Why don’t you ask her father if you can marry her?
Correcting, smell the coffee.
Look I don’t like either Luna or Lauf, but I find Lopez’s horror muck like the French gendarme in ‘Casablanca’.
Fake outrage.
Especially over nothing.
I don’t give a damn if the lady was once a stripper.
Mary Magdalene did far worse, yet Christ forgave and accepted her.
Mr. Lopezlike character: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME
Koziol, generally Republicans want people of good character or impeccable experience.
Dems typically will let thieves, frauds, drug dealers, sex traffickers, hookers and Heather’s run and rule over them.
So she and her husband got divorced for less than a year and she didn’t want to talk about it so she made up a lie about the military not paying for travel.
Not a big deal in my opinion.
Seems like a nothing burger.
Hopefully she’s a good congresswoman.