GOP Sen. Joni Ernst comes out as a rape survivor, has mixed feelings about #MeToo

In August, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and husband Gail Ernst filed for divorce, and on Monday, the Des Moines alternative newspaper Cityview published details from an affidavit Joni Ernst filed in October. A judge sealed most of the divorce documents Tuesday, at Ernst's request. In the affidavit, Ernst said her ex-husband had been physically abusive, and she elaborated in an interview with Bloomberg News published Wednesday night. Ernst also disclosed that she was raped in college by a "physically and sexually abusive" man she was in a relationship with. "At times as she described her past, Ernst cried so hard that she was barely intelligible," Bloomberg reports.

"I didn't want to share it with anybody, and in the era of hashtag-MeToo survivors, I always believed that every person is different and they will confront their demons when they're ready," Ernst told Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs on Tuesday night. "And I was not ready." Ernst, the No. 4 Senate Republican, dismissed the idea that her support for President Trump should be tied to her personal experiences. "It's outrageous to suggest that anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault should therefore be a Hillary Clinton supporter," she said.

Ernst, 48, also told Bloomberg she didn't technically turn down Trump's invitation to be his running mate, as her affidavit attests. After meeting with Trump about joining the ticket, "I told him I needed to think about it," she said, and later withdrew from consideration. She also said Gail, 65, only physically abused her that one time, in 2007 or 2008, but it was "very sudden and very violent." He "grabbed me by the throat with his hands and threw me on the landing floor," Ernst said. "And then he pounded my head ... on the landing." After counseling, "he said that it would never happen again and blah-blah-blah. And it didn't," she said. "But there was always that underlying threat." Read more at Bloomberg News.

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