During a televised debate Friday night, Rep. Keith Ellison stumbled over questions regarding the allegations of domestic violence made against him, failing to rule out the potential for more allegations to emerge.
The allegations against Ellison were a key topic of the first post-primary debate for Minnesota attorney general hosted by TPT’s “Almanac.” Ellison slammed the stories as “not true,” while saying he is “not aware” of any more allegations that might surface.
In August, Ellison was accused of physically and verbally abusing his former partner Karen Monahan. Monahan has since produced medical records and screenshots of text message and email correspondence with Ellison that corroborate her story.
When I post this, it gets deleted every time pic.twitter.com/uAJNx8AgF5
— Karen Monahan (@KarenMonahan01) September 19, 2018
Here is another medical record, 6 months before the other one.
I specifically went into the emotional/narc abuse during this visit because I needed more than routine test done due to the nature of that type of abuse.
Yes, the physical still occurred. pic.twitter.com/DGAafGAcJ8— Karen Monahan (@KarenMonahan01) September 22, 2018
Ellison acknowledged he was in a “long term relationship” with Monahan, but claimed her story was fabricated. The “independent investigation” would reveal Monahan’s story to be false, Ellison claimed.
“It’s not an independent investigation!” Doug Wardlow, Republican candidate for attorney general, chimed in. “It’s independent by your friends and fellow party members. That’s not an independent investigation.”
When pressed on the medical records, Ellison attempted to dismiss the documents, saying they were from a year after their break-up.
Monahan has also said she offered to talk with Ellison with investigators in the room. When asked if that was true, Ellison did not deny the claim, instead saying that was something he was not interested in doing.
“Well, because I — we broke up two years ago for a reason,” Ellison said. “I didn’t want to be in the relationship and therefore, I left the relationship. And to get back in touch with her again is not something that I am interested in doing.”
The moderator also brought up a second allegation made by Amy Alexander from over a decade ago. Alexander’s story, which was published in the Wright County Republican in 2006, resurfaced after Monahan came forward in August. Alexander, a Democratic activist, claims to have had an on-and-off affair with Ellison that ended when Ellison came to her house uninvited and assaulted her. A recently discovered 911 call log corroborates Alexander’s story.
Ellison was quick to shut down the questions surrounding Alexander’s claims, saying she was “harassing” him. The 911 call log was not addressed during the debate.
“Are you confident that no one else will step forward with any other allegations?” the moderator asked.
“Look, in this political environment, I don’t know what somebody might cook up,” Ellison said. “But I could tell you that there is absolutely nobody that I am aware of who has any sort of- who is threatening or suggesting or who has ever made a prior accusation about me.”
Wardlow was quick to say the two allegations already lodged against Ellison were enough.
“I think two credible, strong allegations of domestic abuse is enough,” Wardlow shot back. “There’s documentary evidence. We have a medical record where we have Monahan reported to her doctor the abuse that was going on.”
Watch a clip of the debate below:
