What He Said Under Oath

The campaign website presents a man of deep LDS faith, principled conservatism, and family values. Photos of temples. Scripture quotes. Invocations of righteousness. On August 1, 2023, Chad Christensen sat for a sworn deposition in the defamation case he had filed against a political critic. Under oath, he was asked about his relationships, his employment history, and the events at the center of the case. What he said is below.

From the Deposition Record

He dated a married woman and ended it when he found out she was still married. That is his sworn testimony.

Chad Christensen has operated Southeast Idaho Investigations, a private investigation business, since at least 2010. Running a background check on a person's marital status is among the most elementary tasks in that profession. It is public record. It takes minutes. Either he did not use the most basic tools of his own profession before entering that relationship, or he knew and the testimony is false. View her social profiles

Faith as a Political Weapon

Christensen's political identity is inseparable from his claimed faith. He has publicly described being attacked by demons on his LDS mission and having Christ lay hands on him. He interpreted Trump surviving an assassination attempt as evidence of Trump being a "strong servant of God." He calls political opponents "Gadianton robbers" — a Book of Mormon designation for secret criminal combinations — applying it to fellow Republican legislators he disagrees with. One example:

He also attacked a colleague's LDS church service:

The LDS law of chastity is not obscure. Sexual relations outside of marriage are a serious violation of church standards and grounds for losing a temple recommend — the credential required to enter LDS temples. Fathering a child outside of marriage is evidence of that violation by definition. Under oath, Christensen confirmed a son born to a girlfriend in 2007. Court records show a child support case filed in Bonneville County in 2012. He confirmed sexual relationships with approximately four or five women between his marriages, two of whom he could name, and acknowledged dating a married woman while serving as a state representative.

He posts photographs from the grave of Ezra Taft Benson — the thirteenth President of the LDS Church — in East Idaho, visits he makes annually and documents publicly. He posts photographs with the second counselor to the President of the Church. He uses proximity to LDS leadership as a political credential while the deposition record sits in a Bonneville County courthouse describing a private life those same standards would not excuse.

He presents himself as a righteous man entitled to judge others. Six months after attacking a colleague for accepting a church calling as bishop, he sat for a sworn deposition and could not recall the names of all the women he had been intimate with while serving in the legislature.

On January 17, 2024, Christensen took to X/Twitter to pile onto allegations of extramarital conduct against state Sen. Jim Guthrie — the same IFF network's long-running campaign to unseat Guthrie using a years-old affair allegation. He called someone raising questions about it a "pathetic loser" and a "gossiping pimple-faced teenager," while simultaneously amplifying the underlying sexual accusation. View the post

Guthrie is being opposed by David Worley, an IFF-aligned candidate who moved into Guthrie's district to run against him, backed by the same network that recruited Christensen. A decade-old affair allegation is the machine's preferred weapon in that race. Christensen was using it.

The deposition in which Christensen admitted to his own extramarital conduct was taken August 1, 2023. The tweet was posted January 17, 2024. Six months before that tweet, he had confirmed under oath that he had been in a relationship with a married woman while serving as a sitting state representative — conduct that is, by the standards he and his network apply to Guthrie, disqualifying. The IFF network has not raised it. The affair allegation they use against Guthrie is decades old. Christensen's admission is in a court transcript dated the previous year.

The Charges He Never Disclosed

Christensen was asked under oath whether he had ever been charged with a crime. He confirmed three separate incidents. None appear in any campaign material. He campaigns on mandatory minimum sentences and opposing plea deals in criminal cases.

He drove oil and water trucks in North Dakota fracking fields from 2011 to 2013. A valve malfunction caused a spill. He was charged with discharge of a regulated substance, a charge that started as a misdemeanor and was elevated to a felony at his court date. He entered a plea agreement and received a withheld judgment to avoid trial. He campaigns against plea deals. He has never mentioned this one.

Full criminal record and employment history: The Law Enforcement Story

Who Put Him There

The deposition also established, under oath, exactly how Christensen came to run for the Idaho Legislature:

Greg Pruett, the same man Christensen forwarded the secret recording to in October 2020, was the man who recruited him to run for office in 2018. He did not rise independently. He was placed.

More on this network: The IFF Machine