The Commentariat -- August 13, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
It's all a scam. Everything. -- Akhilleus, on the Trump presidency*
Adam Goldman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Peter Strzok, the F.B.I. senior counterintelligence agent who disparaged President Trump in inflammatory text messages and helped oversee the Hillary Clinton email and Russia investigations, has been fired for violating bureau policies, Mr. Strzok's lawyer said Monday. Mr. Trump and his allies seized on the text messages -- exchanged during the 2016 campaign with a former F.B.I. lawyer, Lisa Page -- in assailing the Russia investigation as an illegitimate 'witch hunt.' Mr. Strzok, who rose over 20 years at the F.B.I. to become one of its most experienced counterintelligence agents, was a key figure in the early months of the inquiry. Along with sending the text messages, Mr. Strzok was accused of sending a highly sensitive search warrant to his personal email account. It is not clear why Mr. Strzok, who was formally fired on Friday, was dismissed at this time.... Aitan Goelman, his lawyer, said that the deputy director of the F.B.I., David Bowdich, had overruled the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility, which said Mr. Strzok should be suspended for 60 days and demoted." ...
Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI - finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... said Monday that she believes Trump was lying when he claimed in a phone call in December that he knew nothing about her dismissal by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... Trump fired back at Manigault Newman with a Monday morning tweet in which he attacked his former aide as 'vicious, but not smart' and claimed that 'people in the White House hated her.' 'Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time,' Trump said. 'She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok.' Trump said he would 'rarely see' Manigault Newman in the White House, a claim that contradicts reports that she enjoyed a close relationship with the president. In two follow-up tweets, Trump continued to disparage his former aide, saying he had 'heard really bad things' about her and claiming that she 'would constantly miss meetings & work.'... He added that while it was 'not presidential' to attack her, he was doing so because he believes the media will be trying to make her 'look as legitimate as possible.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yeah, it's the media who force Trump to act "not presidential."
Cristian Farias of New York: "... for all the flashy testimony to come out of the [Manafort] trial..., jurors have already seen reams of documentary evidence -- emails, invoices, and business records that paint a picture of the scheme Manafort is accused of orchestrating. In significant ways, the oral testimony simply corroborates or adds to the foundation prosecutors have already laid with the documents entered into evidence. As for [Judge T.S.] Ellis, whose ornery treatment of prosecutors has gotten him undue attention for all the wrong reasons, it's best to not read too much into it.... Because the defense is likely to catch fire from him too, but also because benchslapping is something that trial lawyers have to live with -- and it's not a good barometer of how jurors will ultimately decide a case.... Ellis, more than just about anyone else in America, knows a wealth of extremely sensitive details about the Russia investigation, and his apparent drive to cut no slack for the prosecution also indicates that he wants their side to have a solid trial record in the event of an appeal."
Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Several times in the first year of his administration..., Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But ... midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo.... Trump's aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on 'a constant basis,' but it wasn't easy.... Trump's desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux pas Trump has made since assuming the presidency, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings." ...
... Jonathan Chait has a more amusing take on Lippman's reporting: "Running an effective foreign policy for a global hyperpower is always tricky when the president happens to be a personally corrupt authoritarian bigot who is concealing shady ties to a strategic adversary. The problem gets even harder when the president is unable to grasp some of the basic facts and principles of diplomacy.... It's like having Homer Simpson as president, but dumber:"
When Henry Met Jared. Caleb Melby, et al., of Bloomberg: Jared Kushner introduced himself to Henry Kissinger at a National Interest luncheon in March 2016, where Kissinger was the guest speaker. At the luncheon, Kushner "also met Dimitri Simes, the Russian-born president of the center.... Questions have recently been raised about the center for its ties to Russia, including its interactions with Maria Butina, a woman accused of conspiring to set up a back channel by infiltrating the National Rifle Organization and the National Prayer Breakfast.... In the weeks following [the luncheon, Kushner & Simes arranged] ... an event hosted by the center to give Trump a chance to lay out a cohesive foreign policy speech.... In his speech at the Mayflower, Trump called for easing tensions with Russia.... It was at [Trump's] Mayflower [event] that Kushner first met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, an encounter he left off disclosure forms when he initially joined the government." Via safari
Stephanie Murray of Politico: "A high-ranking Republican lawmaker's son donated the 'maximum amount' to a Democrat running to replace his father. Bobby Goodlatte, son of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), made the surprise announcement on Twitter Sunday night. Goodlatte is retiring after 13 terms in Congress. 'I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts -- let's do this!' Bobby Goodlatte wrote on Twitter.... Donald Trump carried the central Virginia district with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2016, and Mitt Romney did the same in the 2012 presidential election. Goodlatte received two-thirds of the vote that year."
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The National Archives is doubling down on its refusal to respond to Democratic' requests for documents from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's White House tenure. Archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that it is the agency's policy to only respond to requests from a committee chairman, who are all Republicans." Mrs. McC: Sounds to me like an unamerican, um, "rigged" policy.
*****
Trump and his crew of misfits & miscreants are such clowns, I feel as if I should begin every page with an apology for the news that follows. It's so humiliating to be an American right now. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Liar-in-Chief. Hope Yen & Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "... President Donald Trump is pulling numbers out of thin air when it comes to the economy, jobs and the deficit. He refers to a current record-breaking gross domestic product for the U.S. where none exists and predicts a blockbuster 5 percent annual growth rate in the current quarter that hardly any economist sees. Hailing his trade policies in spite of fears of damage from the escalating trade disputes he's provoked, Trump also falsely declares that his tariffs on foreign goods will help erase $21 trillion in national debt. The numbers don't even come close." (Also linked yesterday.)
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's anti-press rhetoric is 'very close to incitement to violence' that would lead to journalists censoring themselves or being attacked, the outgoing UN human rights commissioner has said. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince and diplomat, is stepping down this month as UN high commissioner for human rights ... in the face of a waning commitment among world powers to fighting abuses. Zeid said the Trump administration's lack of concern about human rights marked a distinct break with previous administrations, and that Trump's own rhetoric aimed at minorities and at the press was redolent of two of the worst eras of the 20th century, the run-up to the two world wars."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "When President Trump took to Twitter to complain about two women with connections to the Russia investigation, he affixed special descriptions to both. 'Beautiful,' he said of Nellie Ohr, the wife of a Justice Department official who worked for Fusion GPS, the research firm that commissioned a dossier that made salacious claims about Mr. Trump. In a separate tweet, Mr. Trump used the word 'lovely' to describe Lisa Page, the former F.B.I. lawyer who worked on both the Clinton email and Russia investigations and whose text exchanges with another bureau official, Peter Strzok, included repeated criticism of Mr. Trump during his candidacy. The descriptors Mr. Trump used for the two women reflected his intense interest in physical appearances and his clear disdain for both.... His commentary on their looks was in keeping with a long-running tendency by Mr. Trump."
Victoria Guida of Politico: "Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said ... Donald Trump and former FBI Director James Comey never discussed former national security adviser Mike Flynn, backtracking from July comments in which he indicated otherwise. 'There was no conversation about Michael Flynn,' Trump's personal attorney said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'That is what he will testify to if he's asked that question.' He also told CNN's Jake Tapper that he never said the president had asked Comey to give Flynn a break. 'I said that is what Comey is saying,' Giuliani said."(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Comey wrote in his opening statement before a Congressional hearing in June 2017 that "Trump said: "'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'" In oral testimony, under oath, Comey said "that he understood the President to be requesting that he drop the investigation into Flynn." It isn't foolish to question Comey's veracity, but it is hard to believe he made up out of whole cloth Trump's remarks about Flynn. Making up stuff is Trump's modus operandi. See AP report above. BTW, I heard the old clip Sunday; Giuliani did say that Trump asked Comey to give Flynn a break. Matt Shuham of TPM found the transcript: "What he [Trump] said to him [Comey] was 'Can you give him [Flynn] a break?'" This is yet another instance where Giuliani has changed the substance of his claims about Trump's obstruction attempts. ...
... Defining Obstruction Down. If the President Doesn't, Say, Pull a Gun, It's Not Obstruction. Megan Keller of the Hill: "President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that it would take some sort of extreme action for the president to obstruct justice.... Giuliani said it would take some sort of extreme action for Trump to obstruct justice such as, if 'say the president put a gun to a person's head' in an investigation." Mrs. McC: But Rudy. Wouldn't putting a gun to Comey's head just be Trump's exercising his Second Amendment rights?
"The Rise & Fall of Paul Manafort." Sharon LaFraniere, et al., of the New York Times: "The whole trajectory of [Paul] Manafort's life -- from the son of a blue-collar, small-town mayor to a jet-setting international political consultant to Trump campaign chairman and now to prisoner in an Alexandria, Va., jail awaiting a jury verdict -- is a tale of greed, deception and ego. His trial on 18 charges of bank and tax fraud has ripped away the elaborate facade of a man who, the story went, had moved the swimming pool at one of his eight homes a few feet to catch the perfect combination of sun and shade, and who worked for the Trump campaign at no charge to intimate that for a man of his fabulous wealth, a salary was trivial [even though he was broke].... A subplot of the saga is the betrayal of Mr. Manafort by his longtime deputy Rick Gates.... Mr. Gates has testified that he helped execute Mr. Manafort's fraudulent schemes while simultaneously stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him, apparently because he felt that Mr. Manafort was not dividing the riches from Ukraine fairly."
Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman, the fired White House aide seeking publicity for her new memoir about her time in the Trump administration, said in an interview Sunday that the way Chief of Staff John F. Kelly dismissed her involved a 'threat' and played an audio recording of Kelly that she said she made in the Situation Room. The recording was played on NBC News's 'Meet the Press,' where Manigault Newman was interviewed by Chuck Todd. In the purported recording, which would constitute a serious breach of White House security, Kelly is heard complaining about her 'significant integrity issues' and saying that he wants to make her departure 'friendly and without 'any difficulty in the future relative to your reputation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here's the recording:
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If this conversation was recorded in the Situation Room, as Manigault Newman claims, why was that? The Situation Room is a secure site "to monitor and deal with crises at home and abroad and to conduct secure communications with outside (often overseas) persons." Why a "secure conversation" with Omarosa? This is just weird. ...
... Update: Patrick explained in yesterday's Comments why holding a termination interview in the Situation Room isn't so "weird": '... the conference room is an internal space in the WH intell center.... The whole thing is called the Situation Room, but it contains more than one room. So I imagine that Kelly just found that conference room to be the most convenient empty conference room at the time." Later, Patrick wrote, in response to another comment, "... individuals who enter [the SitRoom must] hav[e] the required clearance level. Which means that they have been briefed (when they got that clearance) not to bring any electronic devices into that area. And there are BIG signs at the entrances reminding people of the prohibitions.... They have little lockers outside for your cellphones, laptops, bluetooth devices, etc.... What OM did is a jailable offense. I'm not sure how the Secret Service can avoid charging her." ...
... Update 2: Sarah Sanders seems to confirm that General Kelly did it in the Situation Room. This is like Clue, White House Edition. Wrong answers: President Trump did it in the Oval Office with a gun. Mizz Sanders did it in the Briefing Room with a homemade pumpkin pie. Mister Pruitt did it in the White House Mess with a used Trump Hotel mattress.
... Javiar David of CNBC: "The fact that Manigault Newman recorded a conversation in a classified area could create considerable legal problems that add to her existing credibility issues. On social media, political watchers from the left and right ripped into Manigault Newman for having made the recordings in the first place." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It appears Manigault Newman was truthful about that $15K/month "bribe" The White House offered her to keep her mouth shut. The Washington Post has reproduced a consulting agreement (between the Trump campaign & her) & a companion nondisclosure & nondisparagement agreement. The deal -- purportedly produced by Team Trump -- runs only till the end of this year, though. Kelly fired Omarosa in December, with an effective termination date of January 20, 2018. So that would make the "consulting" deal worth about $170K. Unless Omarosa mocked these up while she still had access to the White House watermark, like the GOP candidate in Florida who made her very own diploma (see yesterday's Beyond the Beltway), then these agreements were Omarosa's severance package. I expect she turned down the deal because it was so paltry. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "The $15,000-per-month retainer has been confirmed by the Washington Post, which reviewed a copy of the offer. This lends veracity to her other charges; after all, nobody is going to pay her $15,000 a month to keep quiet unless they know she possesses some damaging information.... The recordings might be damning, or they might not. In the meantime, she seems to have maneuvered her former colleagues into a highly uncomfortable spot." Mrs. McC: As the linked Post story (Aug. 10) notes, "Throughout his career as a businessman and politician, Trump has repeatedly used nondisclosure agreements to quiet critics and accusers, including adult-film star Stormy Daniels." Apparently Trump calculated that Omarosa had slightly more damaging info on him than Daniels -- who was paid $135K -- did. Or inflation. ...
Meridith McGraw & Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Omarosa Manigault Newman's former White House colleagues are looking into legal options to stop her from releasing more tapes and to punish her for secretly recording her conversation with Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, White House officials tell ABC News." ...
... Oops, Too Late. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... has provided an audio recording that she says is from 2017 and on which ... Donald Trump expresses surprise that she'd been fired from his administration. The tape, which was played exclusively Monday on 'Today,' appears to show Trump having no idea that Newman had been dismissed by his Chief of Staff John Kelly. 'Omarosa? Omarosa what's going on? I just saw on the news that you're thinking about leaving? What happened?' Trump is heard saying on the tape, which Newman said was made one day after her termination in December 2017 when Trump called her. Newman responds, 'General Kelly -- General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave.' 'No...I, I, Nobody even told me about it,' Trump replies. Newman then says, 'Wow'... 'You know they run a big operation, but I didn't know it,' Trump is heard saying on the tape. 'I didn't know that. Goddamn it. I don't love you leaving at all.'" Includes video & audio.
Liz Robbins of the New York Times: "... a new rule in the works from the Trump administration would make it difficult, if not impossible, for immigrants who use [government programs for low-income residents] to obtain green cards. New York City officials estimated that at least a million people here could be hurt by this plan, warning that the children of immigrants seeking green cards would be most vulnerable." Mrs. McC: This is one of the anti-immigrant plans Stephen Miller has pushed. ...
... David Glosser, who is an uncle of Stephen Miller, in a Politico op-ed, recounts how their shared ancestors, who were the victims of violent Russian pogroms, immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s with no money &, in some cases, via "chain migration." "I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family's life in this country." Thanks to unwashed for the link. Mrs. McC: Glosser is a neuropsychologist. He should know that a logical appeal can have no effect on his nephew. Glosser might know whether Miller's problems are the result of self-loathing (Hitler had Jewish & African roots), extreme selfishnish (I got mine), or simply bad wiring that bypasses normal empathy impulses & an ability to relate to others (see Trump). Whatever the cause, it has produced an evil person on whom appeals to reason are useless. In slightly different circumstances, Miller would be the "troubled loner" who took an AK-15 to Santa Monica Place & mowed down dozens of shoppers. ...
... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "The new rules appear to use the broadest possible definition of public assistance -- one that includes Obamacare and children's health insurance -- meaning that most potential new citizens will be ineligible for naturalization.... The key difference between a legal permanent resident and a citizen lies in the realm of political rights: the non-citizen doesn't have them. She can't vote. She can't run for office. She can't engage in civil disobedience -- any legal violation may make her deportable -- and, in effect, she can't protest. The new rules will mean that this category of disenfranchised immigrants will grow by millions in the next few years.... The new naturalization rules provide perhaps the clearest example yet that Trump's war on immigrants is a war on democracy." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Congress, of course, could quash Stephen Miller's new rule by passing a veto-proof bill. But it won't. Republicans see every new citizen as a potential new Democratic voter. Most Republican legislators consistently place their own interests over those of expanding (or in this case, maintaining) democratic ideals. ...
... Today's American History Lesson. Diane Bernard of the Washington Post: "... at the height of the Great Depression..., President Herbert Hoover's [announced] a national program of 'American jobs for real Americans' -- code words for '"getting rid of Mexicans," who weren't considered "real" Americans,' said [Joseph] Dunn, whose staff spent three years delving into federal, state and local records ... to document this little-known tragedy of the Latino experience in the United States. The program, implemented by Hoover's secretary of labor, William Doak, included passing local laws forbidding government employment of anyone of Mexican descent, even legal permanent residents and U.S. citizens. Major companies, including Ford, U.S. Steel and the Southern Pacific Railroad, colluded with the government ... laying off thousands.... Hoover's approach is echoed in the Trump administration's immigration policies.'"
Sarah Ellison & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The revolving door between Fox News and Republican political figures has turned steadily for years, with failed GOP candidates finding a home at the network. But since Donald Trump was elected president, the door has provided a number of former Fox personnel with entree into a government now infused with the cable channel's fiery sensibility. And with Bill Shine's appointment this summer to a top job in the White House, the door may finally come to rest. The two worlds have merged into one universe: the Fox News White House. If Donald Trump is running his own touch-and-go reality show from Pennsylvania Avenue, he has finally found in Shine his executive producer.... 'Bill Shine has made an entire career of subordinating himself to a big personality...,' a Shine confidante said. 'So when they're in the East Room, he wants the lighting to look the best it possibly can so that Trump can look the best he possibly can.'"
Chris Cillizza of CNN: "As a candidate, Donald Trump would famously boast that if elected, he'd 'surround myself only with the best and most serious people' -- adding: 'We want top-of-the-line professionals.' The first 18 months of his presidency have repeatedly revealed the fallacy of that pledge, as myriad members of Trump's Cabinet and senior staff have departed -- often under suspicious circumstances -- even as the President himself has railed against the ineptitude of people who still work for him.... The result, like so much of Trump's wildly unpredictable management style, is disorder, disarray and disorganization.... And because of Trump's tendency to openly discuss and deride both those who have left his side and those who continue to work within his administration, he launches a series of storylines that not only highlight the pandemonium within his ranks but also crowd out other, more positive stories for his White House." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's mismanagement style was obvious before November 8, 2016. Trump fired his first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski & his second campaign manager Paul Manafort. His third campaign manager, Steve Bannon, had no professional experience running a political campaign. The so-called "foreign policy advisors" he named mystified actual foreign policy pros, who -- for good reasons -- had never heard of them.
Noah Weiland & Andy Parsons of the New York Times: "A year after the race-fueled violence in Charlottesville, Va., a small group of white nationalists marched through downtown Washington on Sunday on their way to a rally in front of the White House. It was over almost as soon as it began. The white supremacists were met along their march route and at the rally site by thousands of counterdemonstrators denouncing racism and white supremacy. The white nationalists, who numbered about two dozen, stayed in Lafayette Square, a park just north of the White House, for a short time and left before 6 p.m.... Counterprotesters who had been shouting 'Go home, Nazis, go home!' suddenly started booing when the white nationalists did just that. A new song then broke out, 'Na na na na, na na na na! Hey, hey, goodbye!' With the white nationalists gone, the mood among the counterprotestors grew mildly celebratory, although rain led many to leave. Before they made their exit, the white nationalists were separated from the counterprotesters by metal fences and dozens of law enforcement officers guarding against any outbreaks of violence." ...
... Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post reports on the demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia: "There were more than 100 mostly young protesters, some who had come from other states, calling for an end to white supremacist groups. There was an overwhelming police presence that some demonstrators called symptomatic of an over-policing of minority communities in America.... There was less a feeling of reconciliation than anger, as protesters screamed at police officers, whom some demonstrators had all weekend tried to associate with racism and fascism." ...
... AP: "Officers kept the peace at this weekend's protests and counter-protests a year after a deadly far-right rally. Authorities made several arrests in Charlottesville and in northern Virginia, where a small group of right-wing demonstrators took the Metro to their rally outside the White House. Authorities said a man heading to the 'Unite the Right 2' rally in Washington was arrested Sunday for assaulting two Virginia police officers ... outside the Vienna/Fairfax/George Mason University Metro station.... Meanwhile, in Charlottesville, police made several arrests as hundreds marched Saturday in a demonstration against the far-right "Unite the Right" rally that left one dead and others injured a year ago. That march was overwhelmingly peaceful as well, but Charlottesville Police say they're investigating an alleged assault of an officer who approached a man whose face was covered. Police say the officer and the man fell to the ground. Others pulled them apart, enabling the masked man to get away. No one was injured, and the march continued."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Cathy O'Neil in Bloomberg: "Jack Dorsey from Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, all those Google nerds: They're monumentally screwed, because they have no idea how to tame the monsters they have created. The way I see it, these guys -- and they are mostly guys -- were arbitrarily chosen. They started with some good ideas, some luck, great timing, got lots of people to believe in their rosy vision, and they won the unicorn lottery. Little did they know or care what problems they were creating. And now, they're being asked to solve -- or acknowledge, or something --- some really big issues, such as what to do about people who use their platforms to meddle in elections or spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and straight-up hate. The world expects great things of them, because they're supposed to be geniuses. Problem is, they're not.... They're manufacturing baloney explanations about how they'll use more technology, or maybe more people, to handle the civic duties they had hoped to avoid.... I'd like to offer some advice.... Ask someone smarter and more educated, thoughtful, and civic-minded to decide on the future of your companies."
How Dollar General Creates New "Food Deserts." Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Chris McGreal of the Guardian: "Dollar General is opening stores at the rate of three a day across the US. It moves into places not even Walmart will go, targeting rural towns and damaged inner-city neighbourhoods with basic goods at basic prices.... The chain now has more outlets across the country than McDonald's has restaurants, and its profits have surged past some of the grand old names of American retail. The company estimates that three-quarters of the population lives within five miles of one of its stores, which stock everything from groceries and household cleaners to clothes and tools.... But there is a cost. Dollar General's aggressive pricing drives locally-owned grocery stores out of business, replacing shelves stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables and meat with the kinds of processed foods underpinning the country's obesity and diabetes crisis."
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota Attorney General Race. Briana Bierschbach of Minnesota Public Radio: "Keith Ellison, one of the leading candidates to be Minnesota's next attorney general, confronted allegations Sunday of domestic abuse of a former girlfriend that surfaced days before the election that will decide the party's nominee. The allegation that the physical abuse was caught on video was posted to Facebook late Saturday night by the woman's son, four days before Minnesota's primary election, where Ellison is facing off against four other Democrats for the open attorney general's seat. Ellison is a six-term 5th District congressman and the perceived front-runner in the race. In a written statement Sunday, Ellison denied the incident.... State Rep. Debra Hilstrom, who also is running for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, recirculated the Facebook post and called on Ellison to answer the allegation.... Hilstrom was later joined by Democratic candidates Matt Pelikan Tom Foley, who separately called for Ellison to address the allegation." ...
... Kyle Potter of the AP: "Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison on Sunday denied an allegation from an ex-girlfriend that he had once dragged her off a bed while screaming obscenities at her -- an allegation that came just days before a Tuesday primary in which the congressman is among several Democrats running for state attorney general.... Karen Monahan['s] ... son alleged in a Facebook post that he had seen hundreds of angry text messages from Ellison, some threatening his mother. He also wrote he had viewed a video in which Ellison dragged Monahan off the bed by her feet. Monahan, a Minneapolis political organizer, said via Twitter that what her son posted was 'true.'... Monahan had sent Twitter messages for several months referencing an unidentified, powerful man who had abused her."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bierschbach said she reviewed "more than 100 text and Twitter messages between Ellison and Karen Monahan," which Monahan had given her. "There is no evidence in the messages reviewed by MPR News of the alleged physical abuse." Ellison is also deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee.
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