Friend of Trump-endorsed candidate backs up explosive sex scandal allegations

A former close friend of a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump has confirmed that sex scandal allegations against the would-be congressman are "how I remember it."

Matt Hilsabeck, a former police partner and business associate of Mark Lamb, the Trump-backed Republican running for Arizona's Fifth Congressional District on a platform of "faith, family and freedom," spoke on the record to The Arizona Republic to corroborate an ongoing investigation into the former Pinal County sheriff's alleged yearslong history of sexting, nude photo sharing, and intimate encounters outside his marriage.

Hilsabeck said he went public specifically to counter speculation that the women who came forward had fabricated their accounts or altered evidence.

"I haven't seen anything that I disagree with that's been published so far," Hilsabeck told the Republic. "It is how I remember it."

The Republic's investigation found that Lamb allegedly invited intimate encounters and sought to conceal his activities through threats and intimidation — conduct at odds with the family-values image he has built across a decade in public life. Lamb's campaign lawyers called many of the claims "baseless and harmful" but offered no specifics.

Hilsabeck said Lamb was the one who drew him into the behavior in the first place.

"Guess you could say Mark Lamb introduced me to this lifestyle," he said.

"It was oral sex ... Her to me, me to her. It never went past that," Hilsabeck told the Republic of his encounters with Lamb's wife, Janel Lamb.

He said Lamb acknowledged knowing about it and told him "it was OK."

"The sexting, you know all that stuff," Hilsabeck said. "I would say if you're a family man, you're not doing that."

Trump endorsed Lamb in November, calling him a "MAGA Warrior" and declaring he has his "Complete and Total Endorsement." The primary is scheduled for July 21.

Hilsabeck said he would not be casting a ballot for his onetime friend.

"I'll probably just leave that column blank because I won't vote for a Democrat," he said. "But out of principle, I wouldn't vote for him either."