Top-Ranking Democrats Silent on Keith Ellison Abuse Claims

Democratic National Committee Deputy Chair Rep. Keith Ellison at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 8, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

While high-ranking Democrats have spoken out over last-minute allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, they have remained silent with regard to domestic-abuse claims against their colleague, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).

Ellison, who is running for attorney general of Minnesota and serves as the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), has been accused of physical and verbal abuse by ex-girlfriend Karen Monahan, an organizer for an environmental organization.

In August, Monahan told The Epoch Times that Ellison had morphed into a different person over the years they were together. On Sept. 23, she accused Ellison of trying to discredit and silence her after she spoke out. She said Democrats have ignored her claims.

“I’ve been smeared, threatened, isolated from my own party,” she said.

Monahan has since provided medical records from 2017, when she told her therapist about the abuse on two separate visits.

“My therapist released records stating I have been dealing [with] and healing from the abuse,” she wrote.

The office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has led the charge against Kavanaugh as the Judiciary Committee ranking member, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the allegations against Ellison. Other top-ranking Democrats have continued to remain silent.

Ellison said on Sept. 21 that Monahan fabricated the story about him.

While running to become the state’s attorney general in the upcoming general election, Ellis has dismissed Monahan’s medical records, saying they were dated a year after he broke up with her. One of the records is dated June 17, 2017, and the other, Nov. 28, 2017. Monahan said they broke up in January 2017.

Ellison alleged that at the time that “she was essentially putting together the allegation” that was then released days before the Minnesota primary.

During a PBS-hosted debate with his Republican opponent Doug Wardlow, Ellison said he isn’t sure if other people wouldn’t “cook up” more allegations against him, given “this political environment.”

Monahan Presses On

Monahan responded sharply to Ellison’s rebuttals, saying she had more evidence.

“This isn’t right. This is not going away and you are making it worse for you, your family and district by lying, smearing, getting others to do your dirty work, victim shaming, etc.,” she wrote on Twitter. “You know I have the video and more. I am still trying to offer grace and a way out.”

The video she was referring to was from an incident in 2016, when she recorded Ellison flying into a rage and dragging her off her bed after she had calmly confronted him over a lie. Her son, Austin, also confirmed witnessing the video in a lengthy Facebook post, detailing how he accidentally stumbled upon the video and how he confronted his mother about it.

“My brother and I watched our mom come out of pure hell after getting out of her relationship with Keith Ellison,” he wrote.

He wrote that Monahan didn’t want to go public at the time because she “still saw [Ellison’s] humanity and offered restorative justice.”

He wrote that the experience convinced him Democrats don’t deliver on their promises of standing up against violence toward women and girls.

“The same people who are posting about social justice are ready to smear my mom, protect a person who abused her and broke the law,” he wrote.

Ellison denied the existence of the video.

Monahan also says she has text messages documenting Ellison’s behavior after their breakup.

“I broke up with Keith in Jan. 2017, he tried to get me back for a year, I refused. I have text to show this,” she wrote in a Sept. 23 tweet. “Watch how he and others are trying to spin this story. It is sad, disgusting and he will end up humiliating him and his family further.”

Minnesota Public Radio News reviewed the messages and reported “no evidence” of the alleged physical abuse. But a screenshot of one December 2017 text message shared by Monahan on Twitter shows her confronting Ellison about the video.

“We never discussed ... the video I have of you trying to drag me off the bed,” Monahan wrote in the text.