The deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), is being accused of beating his ex-girlfriend.
The allegations came just days before Ellison faces voters: he’s currently locked in a competitive four-way primary for Attorney General of Minnesota, and over 100,000 early ballots have already been cast.
The allegations were first made by the son of Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, via Facebook, over the weekend. Austin Monahan, 25, said that in 2017 he found a video of Ellison’s engaging in a physical altercation with his mother, Karen Monahan.
Despite the suggestion that there was video evidence, Austin Monahan did not release the video on Facebook–but claims he confronted Ellison by text message soon after seeing the video, writing, “I know what you did to my mamma.”
His mother confirmed that the video does, in fact, exist–sharing a screenshot of a text message she sent Ellison in December 2017, where she said: “We never discussed — the video I have of you trying to drag me off the bed.”
She also claimed that, the day before announcing his run for Attorney General, Ellison asked her to promise that she wouldn’t publicly discuss their relationship. Monahan refused his request.
Ellison has categorically denied the abuse allegations.
“I still care deeply for her well-being,” he wrote, in a statement. “This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false.”
