Politics

DNC Breaks Silence On Keith Ellison Domestic Abuse Allegations. Here’s What It Said

Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. By Lorie Shaull - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53086405

• The DNC is “reviewing” domestic abuse allegations against Minnesota Rep. and Deputy DNC Chairman Keith Ellison.
• Ellison is accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend, Sierra Club activist Karen Monahan. 
• The DNC should have suspended Ellison “at a minimum,” according to the former DNC communications director.

After more than 72 hours of silence, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) weighed in Tuesday evening on domestic allegations against deputy chairman and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison.

“These allegations recently came to light and we are reviewing them. All allegations of domestic abuse are disturbing and should be taken seriously,” the DNC said in a statement to NPR.

The DNC’s statement didn’t go far enough, according to former DNC communications director Luis Miranda.

“The party has no choice but to suspend him at a minimum until they figure out what’s going on,” Miranda told NPR. “Frankly, it would be malpractice not to. We’ve made it clear we’re going to take these accusations seriously, at a minimum. We set too high a standard not to take this seriously.”

The NPR storywent live just hours before polls closed in the Minnesota primaries, where Ellisonis favored to win the Democratic nomination for attorney general.

Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, Sierra Club activist Karen Monahan, has accused him of physically and verbally abusing her during their relationship.

Monahan has said she has a video of Ellison dragging her off of a bed and yelling expletives at her, although she has yet to produce the video. Ellison has denied her accusations and claims the video evidence doesn’t exist.

Monahan’s son Austin first aired the allegations against Ellisonon Saturday and claimed to have witnessed the alleged video of Ellison’s abuse.

“I was using my moms computer trying to download something and I clicked on a file, I found over 100 text and twitters messages and video almost 2 min long that showed Keith Ellison dragging my mama off the bed by her feet, screaming and calling her a ‘fucking bitch’ and telling her to get the fuck out of his house,” Austin wrote in a viral Facebook post.

“Sitting all this time, watching what our mom went through and not being able to say or do anything was hard as hell. None of you know the hell our family has gone through. I don’t think half of you would even care,” Austin added.

“We watched her so called political friends stand by say or do nothing. People had an idea what happened and never reached out to my mom. 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.”

Follow Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHasson