Hudson Valley Lawmaker Appears to Admit to Abusing Woman in Video

A Hudson Valley lawmaker who once wrote on Facebook "It's not rape, It's surprise sex," is under fire again after a video surfaced in which he appears to discuss prior relationship violence.

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Giancarlo Llaverias confessed to being an “abuser” who became “violent” in his romantic relationships, according to Margaret Kakish, who is running against Llaverias for District 1 County Legislator in the Town of Poughkeepsie.

In a podcast called "Toxic Relationships," published on April 14, 2019, Llaverias admitted to abusing a woman, according to Kakish. The podcast appears to have been deleted from Youtube, but Kakish shared some of the audio, which can be seen below.

"I think when you are the abuser, you gotta be able to check yourself fast because if you don't then you become domestically violent and that's what literally happened," Llaverias said in the video shared by Kakish.

Llaverias first came under fire earlier this month for "vulgar, offensive and disrespectful language about women" he made on Facebook years ago.

"It's not rape, It's surprise sex," Llaverias wrote on Facebook on Aug. 11, 2011, according to screenshots shared by Kakish.

Llaverias later apologized saying he was sorry for the comments he made years ago.

"I am a flawed person who made mistakes in his youth and for the statements made years ago I am sorry. In those 6 years I have grown and matured into the community activist, minister, and elected official Dutchess County has grown to know," Llaverias said on Facebook.

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Llaverias was then under more scrutiny for a video that was posted to Youtube on Jan. 31, 2019.

In the now-deleted video, the Dutchess County lawmaker appears to defend singer R. Kelly and admits to hitting a woman. In the video, Llaverias appears to admit to controlling a former girlfriend saying "I did hit them" when pressed further what he considers "hit" he said, "I smacked her across the face."

Lawmakers called for him to resign after the video was discovered. The Democrat previously said he wouldn't resign, later claiming it was a scripted video.

In the wake of the new video, the Dutchess County Republican Committee called on all public officials and candidates for public office who have not yet called on Llaverias to resign to do so immediately, according to Kakish.

"This is not a political issue. This is a matter of right and wrong, and this is a time of reckoning for those who want to lead this County," Kakish said.

We reached out to Llaverias for comment on this latest development but haven't heard back as of this writing.