Joni Ernst Defends Justice Kavanaugh During Interview Revealing Past Sexual Assault

Republican Senator Joni Ernst opened up Wednesday about her past sexual assault after details of her divorce with Gail Ernst were made public.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ernst said she was raped in college by someone she knew and that her ex-husband physically abused her. She is one of the high-profile women in the party to allege assaults in the time of the MeToo movement.

Ernst said in the interview that her rapist was an ex-boyfriend of hers who was physically and sexually abusive. She alleged he raped her at his house one night before threatening to kill himself if she tries to break up with him. She did not call the police but alerted the Iowa State University campus sexual assault counseling center, after which she ended the relationship. At one point, she even worked at the counseling center without giving out details about her previous association with it, saying she was embarrassed of what happened to her.

In a meeting at the town hall in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Wednesday, Ernst took questions about her divorce and the alleged physical abuse she faced from her ex-husband. She said they were arguing about some woman in 2007 when he grabbed her by the throat and threw her on the floor, after which he pounded her head on the landing.

However, throughout the interview, Ernst defended her relationship with President Donald Trump who has previously been accused of sexual harassment by a number of women. She said it was outrageous to suggest that any victim of sexual assault should be a Hillary Clinton supporter.

She also defended her decision to support Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he faced allegations of sexual assault from numerous women including psychologist Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford. Kavanaugh denied all the allegations. She said even though she believed Ford experienced trauma, the evidence and the witnesses she presented in court contradicted her story, further stating she didn't think Kavanaugh was the source of the trauma.

In 2018, before Kavanaugh was confirmed as the Supreme Court Justice, Sen. Ernst was one of the people who supported him and voted to confirm him. She chastised Democrats for politicizing Ford’s allegations saying the Democrats' motivation to call a hearing was to sink Kavanaugh. She said the Democrats actually threw Ford to the wolves since she wanted her allegations to be kept anonymous at first.

About her support for Kavanaugh, Ernst said he allowed Ford the opportunity to testify. She said she was very proud of Kavanaugh and was glad that he was leading the Judiciary Committee. Calling him an incredible jurist with great opinions, she said he was more than qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

Having worked at a women’s crisis center at the university with women who faced abuse, Ernst said sexual assault was "a very important topic" to her. She added that if the victims of sexual assaults are ready to come forward, they should do it immediately.

“You certainly don’t want to wrongly convict someone who is innocent, but you also want to make sure that the accuser is heard and has the opportunity to step forward,” she said.

Ernst will seek re-election in 2020. “People know my situation now. What I can do is be honest about what happened. And I can move forward,” she said.