A lawyer who “was unable to substantiate” the domestic violence allegations against Rep. Keith Ellison is a partner of a law firm that donated more than $500,000 to Democrats since 1998, with nearly $50,000 to the embattled congressman running for the state’s attorney general position.

Susan Ellingstad is a partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P law firm and was picked by Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to investigate Karen Monahan’s allegations of domestic abuse after she came forward in August.

At the time, the party’s chairman Ken Martin said Ellingstad was hired to make sure the probe “wouldn’t be colored by people with associations with the party.”

But records show that Ellingstad’s law firm has extensive ties to Democrats and overwhelmingly donated to Democrats since 1998. More than $500,000 was spent on various Democratic House and Senate candidates, with only half of that sum to Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics data. – READ MORE

Karin Housley, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has officially requested an investigation into the allegations of domestic abuse against Rep. Keith Ellison.

Ellison, a Democrat running for attorney general in Minnesota, has been accused by his former girlfriend of physical and emotional abuse throughout the time they dated. Karen Monahan alleged Ellison once dragged her off a bed while shouting profanities and sent multiple abusive text messages.

Ellison has vehemently denied the accusations and asked the House Ethics Committee to launch a probe into the allegations. Minnesota’s Democratic Party has also commissioned an investigation.

But Housley, the GOP nominee who is facing incumbent Sen. Tina Smith in November, has called for an “immediate investigation” by the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General.

“Recent calls for a congressional ethics investigation, made by Keith Ellison and echoed by my opponent, amount to nothing more than political cover; Ellison will have left Congress by the time an investigation could be completed,” Housley said in a statement. “These are serious, recent and substantiated allegations that deserve immediate attention and raise significant doubts about Keith Ellison’s fitness to serve as Minnesota’s chief legal officer.” – READ MORE