Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) got emotional this week during an interview with local television discussing an abuse allegation leveled against him by his ex-girlfriend.
In the chat with WCCO-TV, Ellison, who won a primary on Tuesday night in the Minnesota attorney general race, once again denied Karen Monahan’s claim that he physically abused her during their relationship, which ended in 2016.
“I know I can’t just run past this controversy and not address it, which is why I’m here with you today,” he said, emphasizing his declared desire to try and clear the air.
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Asked directly if he ever abused Monahan in any way, Ellison flatly said: “No.”
Neither physically nor emotionally? Ellison, again, said: “No.”
He was also asked about the most egregious accusation, which first surfaced in a Facebook post by Monahan’s son: That a video exists of the congressman dragging Monahan off a bed by her feet.
“There couldn’t be. There couldn’t be such a thing as that,” Ellison said when asked if such a video exists.
Monahan has said that she will not release the alleged video as it’s both “humiliating” and “traumatizing.” She also told CNN that she put the video on a flash drive and couldn't find it because it was in storage.
Ellison maintains that they still have a good relationship and that he even recently brought gas to her when she was stranded on the highway.
The congressman became visibly emotional during the interview, seemingly fighting back tears as he described what he would say to Monahan now: “I’d say, ‘Look, we loved each other, we don’t have to destroy each other.’”
Asked if he thought Monahan was, indeed, trying to “destroy” him, the attorney general candidate said: “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want to speculate on motive, I don’t know. I’ve asked myself many times, why? But I’m not going to try to speculate on motive.”
