'20/20' to Feature Michigan's Tea Party Trysters

LANSING, MI – The ABC news magazine “20/20” will examine the Michigan House sex scandal and clumsy cover-up involving disgraced former lawmakers Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat in a program to be broadcast at 10 p.m. ET Friday.

In a tweet, ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez promised “an emotional and explosive hour.” A clip from the program shows Benitez asking Courser: “Was there any moment when you just thought, ‘Todd, what the hell were you thinking?’ ” Gamrat, apologizing as she wipes a tear from her eyes, says, “That’s not how I wanted it to go.”

The clip opens with a voiceover in which the narrator says, “It was a political cover-up so twisted it must might make Olivia Pope blush” — a reference to the character played by Kerry Washington in ABC’s “Scandal.” Images of Courser and Gamrat flip to a shot of Pope kissing President Fritz (Tony Goldwyn).

In the real-life Michigan case, the two freshman Tea Party-Republican lawmakers, who espoused traditional family values in their campaigns, were involved in an extramarital affair, and plotted to cover it up with a bizarre fake gay sex scandal.

After the tryst and cover-up were exposed by The Detroit News, Gamrat was ousted outright, and Courser resigned just moments before the House was poised to vote to expel him.

Both attempted political comebacks, but both were soundly defeated in their parties’ primaries in November.

So far, the state has spent more than $80,000 in legal fees on the removal of the pair from office.