Texas Republican Congressman Drops Reelection Bid After Affair With ISIS Bride Exposed
So much detestable gutter trash in Texas, so little time. Today, it’s a GOP congressman who’s been forced to cancel his reelection campaign after news leaked that he had an affair last year with a woman who was once married to an ISIS leader in Syria. Who knew Republicans were such Jihadist sympathizers. Via NPR:
U.S. Rep. Van Taylor of Texas said Wednesday that he was ending his reelection campaign and admitted having an affair following reports that he had been in a relationship with the widow of an American-born recruiter for the Islamic State group.
The North Texas congressman’s announcement came the day after former Collin County Judge Keith Self forced Taylor into a runoff for the Republican nomination.
Several days before Tuesday’s primary election, some right-wing websites reported on an interview with Tania Joya, who said she had an affair with Taylor that lasted from October 2020 to June 2021. Joya, of the Dallas suburb of Plano, told The Dallas Morning News on Monday night that she had met the congressman through her work as an ex-jihadist helping to reprogram extremists.
Taylor apologized for the affair in a statement shared with supporters Wednesday. It didn’t mention Joya by name or reference her late husband, the Islamic State group recruiter.
“About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world,” he wrote. “I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life.”
Joya’s first husband, John Georgelas, grew up in Plano, converted to Islam and became a top recruiter for the extremist Islamic State group. In 2013, he took her and their three children to northern Syria where, as Yahya Abu Hassan, he became the most important American fighting for ISIS. He was killed in 2017. Toward the end of the affair with Taylor, Joya said she asked for help to pay off a credit card debt and some other bills. He gave her $5,000, she said.
[NPR: U.S. Rep. Van Taylor drops his Texas reelection bid and admits to an affair]
