White House eyes alleged Utah scandal as GOP frets about redistricting loss

White House officials are closely monitoring an alleged Utah scandal, leaning on Republicans there to delve further into ethics concerns about a relationship between two key players in a high-profile gerrymandering case, sources told CBS News. 

It’s another twist in an ongoing battle over Utah’s court-ordered congressional map that made a GOP-majority district much friendlier for Democrats, and a new tactic in the Trump administration’s push to hold Republicans’ slim majority in the U.S. House.

Lawmakers in the state legislature are asking questions about Utah Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen’s relationship with David Reymann, the chief counsel for the League of Women Voters of Utah, who was one of the plaintiff’s attorneys asserting Republicans’ proposed congressional maps were illegal.

Hagen wrote the opinion in a unanimous 2024 ruling that found GOP lawmakers had overstepped by changing Proposition 4, which prohibits gerrymandering. 

Political reaction

It was unclear if the alleged conflict of interest involving Hagen and Reymann could overturn the new congressional boundaries and help Republicans claw back a GOP-majority district.

“There’s just a lot of unknowns at this point,” Kirk Cullimore, the Utah Senate majority leader, told CBS News. 

Cullimore noted Hagen in a letter recused herself from considering matters connected to Reymann. Ethics watchdogs don’t know if the pair were in a relationship when the state Supreme Court issued the opinion on the anti-gerrymandering case, he said. 

GOP officials in Utah have spoken to the White House about the situation, sources said.

Other state legislatures have been locked in redistricting battles after President Trump set off a mid-decade redistricting frenzy by asking Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional boundaries to try to cement a House GOP majority. 

Mr. Trump weighed in earlier this year on the Utah Republicans’ efforts to repeal the anti-gerrymandering bill. 

The current Utah boundary map, ordered by a district court, turned four Republican-leaning congressional districts into three GOP-leaning districts and one Democratic-majority district in the Salt Lake City area. Republicans have controlled all four congressional districts in Utah since 2014.

Utah U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, a former professional football player, announced last month that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection after he unsuccessfully sued to overturn the map.

In a joint statement to CBS News, the top three Republican legislative leaders said they will move forward with an independent investigation. 

“Recent media reports about a relationship between a member of the Utah Supreme Court and an attorney who has argued high-profile cases before the Court raise serious questions and concerns,” Governor Spencer Cox, state Senate President J. Stuart Adams, and House Speaker Mike Schultz said. 

“An initial review by the Judicial Conduct Commission and the Court left important questions unresolved. Allegations of this nature, especially involving public officials, must be examined with transparency and accountability to establish the facts and to maintain public confidence.” 

The League of Women Voters Utah, who Reymann represented, declined to comment.   

Affair allegations

A complaint to the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission in December made allegations about an inappropriate relationship between Hagen and Reymann. 

Through a public records request, CBS News obtained a copy of the complaint, filed by an attorney who said Hagen’s ex-husband told him Hagen had exchanged text messages with Reymann. 

The Judicial Conduct Commission opted not to pursue the matter further after a preliminary investigation. 

After the 2024 state Supreme Court decision, the GOP-led legislature tried to have the new map thrown out, and the case again came before the state’s high court in September 2025. In February, Utah’s high court again ruled against the legislature and upheld the new map.

Hagen detailed the relationship in a January declaration to the commission, stating she had been faithful to her ex-husband for the 30 years of their marriage and did not have an affair before their separation. She said that she suggested they divorce in September 2024, and they separated in April 2025.

The judge says she renewed her “friendship with Mr. Reymann” while separated from her husband and updated her recusal list to include his name. 

Hagen told local news outlet KSL-TV, which first reported on the situation, that she “voluntarily recused myself from all cases involving Mr. Reymann in May 2025.”

Reymann has not responded to CBS News’ requests for comment.