DETROIT, Michigan — Secret audio recordings obtained by the Detroit News reveal that Rep. Todd Courser (R), a tea party lawmaker in Michigan, asked an aide to to send an anonymous email to GOP influencers alleging the Courser was seen having sex with a male prostitute behind a Lansing nightclub.

The reason he wanted this rumor spread was hoping it would cover up the fact that he’s been having a heterosexual affair with Rep. Cindy Gamrat (R), a married tea party state lawmaker.

Ben Graham, Courser’s aide at the time, recorded the whole thing and refused to send the email, which got him promptly fired. Gamrat also fired her aide, who was similarly unwilling to assist in the coverup.

In the recordings, Courser was heard asking Graham to send the email and get “nasty about it” by saying the lawmaker was addicted to porn and was a “sexual deviant.”

The two lawmakers are married with children, and have worked in tandem to actively block same-sex marriage even after the Supreme Court’s June decision.