A Louisiana pastor in Rep. Vance McAllister’s (R-LA) district said this week that a video of the congressman kissing a woman who was not his wife was part of a “conspiracy” to bring him down.

On Monday, The Ouachita Citizen published a leaked video from an anonymous source that showed the Christian conservative lawmaker passionately kissing a married staffer in his Monroe congressional office on Dec. 23.

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Christian Life Church Pastor Danny Chance told The News-Star that he could prove that there was a plot to destroy McAllister’s career.

“I’m not taking up for the congressman; what he did was wrong,” Chance explained. “But I just feel like there is a conspiracy to bring Vance down and destroy him. For someone on his staff to do that is wrong.”

The pastor pointed the finger at McAllister’s Monroe District Office manager, Leah Gordon. And he said that two Republican state senators, Mike Walsworth and Rodney Alexander, were also in on it.

State Sen. Walsworth suggested that the pastor could be lashing out because of poor church attendance.

“It’s an absolute lie,” Walsworth told the paper. “He knows it’s not true. I can’t believe a minister would outright lie like that. Maybe I didn’t go to his church as often as he wanted. I didn’t see that video until (Monday) like everybody else.”

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State Sen. Johnson called the allegations “the craziest thing I’ve heard in my life.”

“The bottom line is it’s ridiculous,” Johnson insisted. “They’re looking for someone to take the blame to get the attention off of them, and I guess they’re looking for me to take the fall, but I didn’t see the video until (Monday).”

McAllister’s chief of staff, Adam Terry, said that congressman’s office would get to the bottom of the leak, and prosecute if necessary. But he admitted that he wasn’t sure if any laws had been broken.

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“We are conducting our own investigation to seek out who leaked the video and determine our actions once we get all of the facts,” Terry noted. “Clearly, what the congressman did was wrong and he’s taking responsibility for his actions. However, a breach in security in a federal office is a grave concern for us.”

For the congressman’s part, he has asked his wife and five children for forgiveness.

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“I have fallen short as a husband and a father, and I feel more ashamed than you can imagine,” McAllister said in a statement on Monday. “I’ve asked them for forgiveness, and I’m asking forgiveness from my constituents who elected me to serve them.”

Watch the original surveillance video below from The Ouachita Citizen.