Republican Tennessee state House Representative Todd Warner on Thursday went full “groomer” on Lt Governor Randy McNally, taking it a lot further than the bizarre and suspicious but theoretically innocuous public flirtations on social media with a young gay man scandal that started last week, with accusations of just short of sexual predation. It’s not clear what new evidence Warner has, but what he raises doesn’t sound like the sort of thing one would say about the second most powerful politician in the state – and a fellow Republican – without some solid stuff to back it up:

“Not only have Tennessee Republicans now become the laughingstock of the nation, the bottom line is this: Randy McNally is a predator. Randy McNally began sexually grooming his victim when he was a 17-year-old minor, commenting relentlessly on nude photos from his official social media account, sending private messages, calling the victim on multiple occasions, and even offering him a job in the Lt Governor’s office – a position which the young man himself says he was wholly unqualified for. Additionally, Randy McNally pursued similar inappropriate relationships both before and during this same timeframe. Since news broke of this story, Lt Governor McNally has scrubbed and erased the entirety of his Instagram account to hide the discovery of additional behavior.”

“Let me be clear: these are not the actions of a ‘grandfather’ working to ‘encourage’ Tennesseans. These are the actions of a perverted 80-year-old man looking to fulfill his closeted sexual desires. These are the actions of man using his authority to manipulate others for sexual gratification. These are the actions of a hypocritical man caught red- handed in a scheme to take advantage of at least one underage young man. I call on Randy McNally to step down from his position as Lt Governor immediately. Additionally, I am calling on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to open a probe into this incident to examine possible violations of Tennessee criminal law related to the sexual exploitation of a minor,” writes Warner in the letter and man they ain’t happy down in the holler.