Minnesota attorney general candidate, Congressman Keith Ellison faces increasing pressure as an ex-girlfriend accused him on national T-V of domestic abuse. Karen Monahan says in 2016 Ellison screamed verbal abuse while trying to drag her off a bed by her legs and feet. She told CBS News it was the only time Ellison was physically violent during their relationship, but she doesn’t want to share the video because it’s traumatizing.
Friday morning after greeting supporters on the campaign trail in north Minneapolis, Ellison reiterated, “I did not do this thing she’s accusing me of. That’s what I’ve said from the very beginning. That’s what I say now…. She could not have any video of me abusing her. That’s not possible…. I didn’t do those things that are alleged.”
And if it’s not true, why is Monahan accusing him? “I’ve thought about that a million times and I’ve come up with nothing,… and I’m not gonna be able to speculate about motive,” Ellison said. When asked if he parted amicably with Monahan, Ellison responded, “Well, we parted, right? So obviously we had our differences, but we spoke many, many times after we broke up.”
The D-F-L Party’s State Central Committee meets in Cambridge Saturday and some pundits predict party leaders will not endorse Ellison, who won Tuesday’s Democratic primary election by a large margin. Ellison says he’ll be at the Central Committee meeting to state his case. Party leaders effectively have no way to take his name off the November ballot.
Ellison was asked whether, for the good of the D-F-L Party, he’d consider dropping out of the attorney general race. “No…. ’cause I didn’t do it.”
Audio from Ellison’s Friday morning media avail: