During Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) referred to a legal precedent that may come to hurt one of her Democratic allies.
Ford appeared before the committee Thursday morning to address sexual-assault allegations she has made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. During the hearing, Klobuchar discussed a “federal rule of evidence” that ranks “statements made to medical professionals” as “more reliable.”
“Dr. Ford, under federal law, and I don’t expect you to know this, but statements made to medical professionals are considered to be more reliable—there’s a federal rule of evidence about this. You told your counselor about this back in 2012, is that right?” Klobuchar asked, with Ford noting that there are “two separate incidents” in her medical record that reflect the abuse allegations.
Similarly, Rep. Keith Ellison’s (D-MN-05) accuser, Karen Monahan has produced multiple medical records showing that she discussed the domestic-abuse allegations against Ellison with her doctors.
On Sept. 18, Monahan released a picture of a medical record from Nov. 2017 showing that she discussed “emotional and physical abuse by a partner” with a medical professional.
“She states that she was in a very stressful environment for years, emotional and physical abuse by a partner with whom she is now separated,” the record states. “She identifies the individual she was involved with as Congressman Ellison, and she is worried about retribution if she identifies him publicly.”
Monahan later released a second medical record from July 2017, which notes that Monahan “recently got out of an emotionally abusive relationship” and is still “feeling that she has a lot of anxiety and PTSD from this.”
Ellison has denied all of the allegations and on Wednesday called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into the matter. In response, Monahan released a statement that she claims was sent to the committee outlining all of the evidence she has produced.
– I have shared more than one medical record stating the abuse. I signed a release statement, so my therapist could release a summary and notes from our sessions, which stated the details of the abuse and more. Four different people told the investigator I came to them after and
— Karen Monahan (@KarenMonahan01) September 26, 2018
“The smears and fabrications that have been spread about me are not about a politics of justice and humanity. In fact, they are cruel and mean spirited,” the statement reads. “I still see Keith Ellison’s humanity and that will not change. Hurt people, hurt people and I hope he finds the support and courage to heal.”
