![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783987866_530_MIA_142_Florida_Legislation_Session_2026_MJO.JPG\" "\\"Rep.")
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Rep. Fabian Basabe, R-Miami Beach, attends the first day of the 2026 legislative session at the Florida State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n
Photo by Matias J. Ocner<\/p>\n
mocner@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
At a civil trial in Tallahassee that began Monday, a judge told state lawmaker Fabian Basabe, a Miami Beach Republican, repeatedly that the courtroom was not a law school, accused him of blatantly violating court orders and briefly threatened to call a mistrial during a chaotic opening day.<\/p>\n
Basabe \u2014 who is not an attorney \u2014 is representing himself against civil charges that he sexually harassed a former legislative aide and an intern, and later defamed the staffer and his mother. Basabe, 48, denies all of the allegations.<\/p>\n
The former reality TV figure and New York socialite fumbled through testimony and cross-examination of the two men accusing him of sexual harassment and frequently tried to ask the opposing attorneys and Judge J. Lee Marsh for legal advice.<\/p>\n
But while Basabe presented himself as a confused neophyte throughout the day, he made clear his keen awareness of his public image and of the handful of news reporters in the room.<\/p>\n
At one point he asked the judge if he could defend himself with no jury present, noting that there was media in the room. He later left his bench, walked to where a Miami Herald reporter was sitting and dropped a handful of documents \u2014 despite refusing to answer other questions from that reporter and at one point threatening to call security on them.<\/p>\n
His opposing counsel called the meandering show a calculated performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we absolutely have grounds for a mistrial. But I\u2019ll tell you, I think that\u2019s exactly his goal. He\u2019s not stupid,\u201d the plaintiff\u2019s trial attorney, Katherine Viker, told Marsh. \u201cHe\u2019s up for reelection, he\u2019s made the motion to continue, he\u2019s come in here and played innocent. It\u2019s offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Basabe has been a member of the state House since 2022 and is up for reelection this fall. That campaign loomed over the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are shocked that this man who can\u2019t represent himself has been elected by the people of Miami. They might want to reconsider,\u201d Viker told reporters at the end of the day.<\/p>\n
In response to the accusation that he was intentionally throwing the trial, Basabe told the judge \u201cthat\u2019s impossible.\u201d He did not respond to in-person or emailed questions from the Herald. In his opening statement he suggested that he saw the trial as a way to clear his name from what he sees as baseless allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe easier path would have been to just move on. Settle and move on. The easier path would have been to put a price tag on my reputation,\u201d Basabe said.<\/p>\n
Immediately after that comment, Marsh kicked the jury out and told Basabe he wasn\u2019t allowed to talk about settlement negotiations \u2014 the first in a wave of procedural violations throughout the day that led the judge to say it was \u201cstaggering how blatantly\u201d Basabe was violating court orders.<\/p>\n
\u2018I want all of that butt\u2019<\/p>\n
Amid the rocky court procedures, most of the day was made up of two young men recounting detailed, and at times emotional, accounts of their interactions with Basabe \u2014 and their dashed dreams of working in Florida politics in the fallout of his alleged harassment.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Two employees accuse Florida Rep. Fabian Basabe of sexual harassment in lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n Former legislative aide Nicolas Frevola was on the witness stand most of the day, recounting and reenacting two different times he says Basabe publicly slapped him. The first time, according to Frevola, was in the back of an elementary school classroom in 2022 where he says Basabe \u201cwhispered in my ear, \u2018I want all of that butt,\u2019 and proceeded to slap my buttocks.\u201d<\/p>\n Frevola testified that he was too stunned and embarrassed to tell anyone in the immediate aftermath. Later, at a party in Tallahassee, he said Basabe slapped him across the face in a room of about two dozen people and told him to stand in the corner.<\/p>\n When Basabe asked him why he didn\u2019t tell his parents, who Frevola said are both in law enforcement, Frevola said, \u201cBecause I was embarrassed and humiliated by you.\u201d<\/p>\n Basabe, who denies the allegations, asked in many ways why there weren\u2019t witnesses who saw either incident \u2014 twice asking Frevola if there were \u201coversized children\u201d in the elementary classroom blocking potential witnesses\u2019 views.<\/p>\n Jacob Cutbirth, who was an unpaid student intern in Basabe\u2019s office, testified that the lawmaker put his hand on his thigh without his consent while whispering about sex with men into his ear, asking him about his penis size and calling sexual interactions between men \u201csports f——.\u201d<\/p>\n Basabe asked him about their written communications, to which Cutbirth said there had been no sexually suggestive written messages from Basabe to the same effect.<\/p>\n Cutbirth testified that after the string of alleged interactions with Basabe, he decided to change his plans for a career in politics and now works for a gas station chain.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this is what the government looks like, then I don\u2019t want a part of it. I don\u2019t think I can find happiness working in a career field where this type of behavior is allowed to exist,\u201d Cutbirth told the court.<\/p>\n Hanging over this week\u2019s trial is a separate case related to whether the Florida House of Representatives mishandled an investigation after Frevola reported the alleged harassment.<\/p>\n Frevola attorney Cynthia Myers told the Herald she believes Republican lawmakers \u201ccircled the wagons\u201d to protect a fellow Republican lawmaker and ensure no potential witnesses would testify to seeing the second alleged slap. In this case, a pretrial ruling blocked any discussion of the House investigation and report \u2014 which was \u201cinconclusive\u201d about whether the slap occurred<\/a>.<\/p>\n Miami Herald staff reporter Aaron Leibowitz contributed to this report.<\/p>\n