A married Texas congressman has finally admitted having an affair with a senior aide who later set herself on fire and burned to death, four months after the Daily Mail exposed the scandal.
Tony Gonzales made the confession during an interview on Wednesday while also airing wild allegations that the aide’s husband was ‘cheating on her with her best friend’ and demanded $300,000 from him after her tragic death.
The admission comes amid pressure from House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday to come clean as the House announced it is investigating Gonzales’s affair since it’s against House rules for members of Congress to sleep with anyone working for them.
‘I made a mistake,’ Gonzales told a conservative talk show host. ‘I had a lapse in judgment and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions.’
The three-time Congressman is under increasing pressure from members of his own party to take accountability a day after Gonzales was forced into a runoff in the Republican Primary to retain his seat in Congress.
‘I had absolutely nothing to do with her tragic passing,’ Gonzalez said in the interview.
The congressman also referred to an alleged Uvalde police report about the aide’s tragic death that claimed her husband was cheating on her.
‘The female subject with burn injuries stated her husband is gay and having an affair with her best friend,’ Gonzales said.
US Rep. Tony Gonzales finally admitted Wednesday night to having an affair with his staffer, Regina Aviles. The admission comes months after Daily Mail first confirmed the affair and after the Texas Congressman denied he had a romantic relationship with his employee
Congressman Tony Gonzales hosted Elon Musk in September 2023 as he toured the US-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas. The aide he allegedly had an affair with, Regina Aviles, can been seen on the right of Musk
Gonzales said that within hours of her death, her estranged husband called the office and asked about her death benefits and retirement fund.
‘Fast forward a few months later, his criminal defense attorney… reaches out and essentially asks me for money or else, they ask for $300,00,’ he claimed.
‘They asked for $300,000. The thing is, Pags, I don’t have $300,000 and if I did have $300,000, I’m not going to give it somebody who is trying to shake me down. So this was always about money.’
Gonzales made other wild claims, like that the effort by the media to report on his affair was a ‘coordinated media attack.’
‘This was all very coordinate attack against me for you thing: to get me to not vote. Rrime example to get me to not vote for the DHS package tomorrow. Or to help President Trump’s agenda,’ the embattled Congressman said.
‘Everything is on the line, right, as far as these midterms. I’m in one of the most difficult districts in the country. I’m the one who can hold it- not only win it in the primary but also hold it in the general (election,) and so if we start losing districts like mine, we are absolutely going to lose the House and then what we’ll see is we’ll see Democrats just try to impeach President Trump.’
Gonzales’s about-face comes after he lied in November, telling reporters that the rumors were not true and questioning Daily Mail’s reporting.
Aviles, 35, poured gasoline over herself before becoming engulfed in flames at her home on September 13 in Uvalde, Texas – about two hours west of San Antonio.
The married mother-of-one, who was separated from her husband at the time of her death, had served as Gonzales’s regional district director in Uvalde since 2021.
Last week, Aviles’s husband, Adrian, released text messages between his wife and Gonzales from 2024.
In the messages, the Texas Republican pressed his employee for sexy pics.
Even though Aviles twice texted ‘This is going too far,’ he pushed on, asking about her favorite sexual positions including if she liked ‘an-l.’
Adrian told Daily Mail in his first interview that he felt Gonzales had abused his position of power over his wife to pressure her into a romantic relationship.
Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales admitted to an affair with a staffer who burned herself to death
Regina Aviles, 35, died after dousing herself with gasoline and setting fire to herself in September 2025
Gonzales, a Navy veteran, campaigned as a devoted family man. His is pictured here with his wife, Angel, and six kids
At one point, she asked him if he was sober, as the inappropriate conversation was happening at nearly 1 am.
The text messages were sent in May 2024, and Gonzalez claimed the last time he talked to Aviles was in June 2024 when Gonzales’s entire office found out about it when Adrian discovered their entanglement.
Adrian messaged several Gonzales and several senior staffers letting them know he knew what was going on.
Adrian did not immediately respond to Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Gonzales claims he welcomes the federal investigation into his affair.
‘It is important that we have the conversation about workplace environment and making sure that certain things do not take place,’ Gonzales stated in the interview.
The elected official also continued his attack against the media, claiming we were not reporting on a police report into Aviles’ death.
However Daily Mail and many other news organization have reported on it since its release last week.
In fact, the only reason the media hadn’t reported on it sooner was because the Uvalde Police Department had blocked public records request by the media to access the documents.
