Minnesota
Minnesota GOP Party chair, wife to Congressman Hagedorn, resigns
One week ago, a close associate and friend of the Minnesota state Republican Party chair was charged in sex trafficking of minors.
Thursday, that GOP Party chair, Jennifer Carnahan, resigned.
A statement shared from the state Republican Party said Carnahan said she was resigning in the best interest of the party and her mental health.
She will receive a severance of around $38,000. Reports are that Carnahan was the tie-breaking vote for her own outgoing pay.
Along with the sex trafficking scandal, reports of Carnahan creating a toxic environment surfaced this week from former top staffers in the GOP’s executive committee, saying “Carnahan ruled by grudges, retaliation, and intimidation.”
In her statement, Carnahan said she had “no knowledge” that Anton Lazzaro was recruiting minors for commercial sex acts.
She also said she had “no knowledge” of “allegations regarding sexual harassments claims,” and called the affiliation with a sex-trafficker and the toxic environment/sexual harassments claims a “mob mentality” to “defame, tarnish and attempt to ruin my personal and professional reputation.”
Carnahan, the wife of US Congressman Jim Hagedorn, who represents Southeast Minnesota as part of the 1st District, invited Lazzaro to their wedding back in 2018 (Lazarro can be seen on the right). There are also pictures of the three of them together at a Minnesota Vikings game. She’s also done a podcast with Lazarro.
Carnahan has called Lazzaro a “political friend.” Lazzaro is a huge donor to the Minnesota Republican Party. The biggest beneficiary was Hagedorn and groups affiliated with the Congressman.
There are no statements from Hagedorn on either of his two Facebook pages or his two Twitter accounts about his wife’s resignation.
