Delaware senator Tom Carper, a Democrat who has admitted to hitting his ex-wife hard enough to give her a black eye, will not be commenting on the scandal surrounding spousal abuse by now-resigned White House official Rob Porter.
“We do not have a comment on Porter,” said a Carper spokesperson.
The Delaware Democrat first faced accusations of domestic abuse back in 1982 during his first run for Congress, but he called the accusation “without basis in fact” and prevailed in the election.
“Did I slap my wife 20 years ago? Yes,” Carper told Delaware reporter Celia Cohen. “Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? No.”
The story Carper initially called “totally false” was based on a 1981 court deposition that included Carper admitting to giving his now-deceased first wife “some discoloration of her left eye and some puffiness.”
“I slapped Diane one time,” Carper said in the deposition. “It was a stupid thing to do and I … regret it now. It caused some discoloration of her left eye and some puffiness.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]When Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel noted in 2012 that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had been accused of abusing his wife, liberals accused Mandel of abusing women by raising the issue.
Rita Smith, executive director of the Denver-based National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, declined at the time to criticize Brown. Instead, she defended Brown’s voting record on women’s issues. And she told an interviewer that Mandel’s attack on Brown was “‘actually abusive,’ because he is putting Brown’s family, including his former wife, in a negative spotlight, ‘and that is abusive of women.’”
That is how many Democrats really feel about politicians who abuse women. As long as they have a “D” after their names, and vote for abortion, they are almost incapable of abuse.
True, the allegations against Brown came in an ugly divorce, where it is not unknown for warring spouses to make all kinds of claims against each other. And Mandel raised the issue in the context of a tough Senate race, where accusations are always subject to distortion. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]A group of Democrat senators have written a letter probing the resignation of White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter amid allegations of domestic abuse.
In a letter addressed to White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly and White House Counsel Don McGahn, 12 Democratic senators led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) ask whether Kelly was previously made aware of the allegations against him. The letter also asks why Porter did not have security clearance.
“We recognize that you and the President have tremendous discretion in deciding whom to hire to work in the White House,” the letter reads.
In addition to Porter, why are “multiple aides” who have also been denied a security clearance allowed continued access to our nation’s most sensitive secrets? I wrote to the White House with eleven of my colleagues demanding an explanation pic.twitter.com/zoVcV3vkxG
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) February 10, 2018
“However, we are troubled by published accounts suggesting that you decided to hire Mr. Porter despite the fact that he could not get a security clearance and that you were aware of the specific domestic violence allegations made against him,” it continues. – READ MORE