Rep. John Thompson's wife: 'He never abused me.' He said he won't resign.

Jul. 27—The wife of embattled state Rep. John Thompson on Monday said he never abused her, and Thompson himself, a St. Paul Democrat, said he won't resign.

Monday's statements by Thompson and his wife, Lee Thompson, in a news conference in front of the state Capitol amount to the most impassioned defense yet mounted by Thompson, who is under pressure to resign after details surfaced regarding a number of police reports in which Thompson was accused of physical violence against women — including accusations by Lee Thompson herself.

Lee Thompson said that Rep. Thompson was willing to resign to protect her and their children, but the couple had decided against it. Rep. Thompson at one point said, "I will not be silent and I will not be resigning."

But neither Thompson responded to specific questions, and important aspects of the allegations were never discussed.

Early indications were that the press conference didn't fundamentally change the state of affairs: Top Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz and House Speaker Melissa Hortman, have called for Thompson to resign. Following the news conference, Hortman reiterated her desire for Thompson to step down.

'HE HAS NEVER ABUSED ME'

A review of Minnesota and Wisconsin court records show John Thompson has never been convicted of domestic abuse. He has been arrested, charged or listed as a suspect in six incidents involving alleged violence toward women between 2003 and 2011 in Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to public records located by the Pioneer Press.

Lee Thompson's denial of any harm at the hands of John Thompson Monday was unequivocal.

"He has never abused me," she said in a lengthy defense in which she made references to her own troubled past, including her own "demons," "rage" and being a "violent woman." She spoke of her 21-year relationship with Thompson that she described as troubled at times, requiring counseling. "We worked through it," she said.

She and Thompson stood, flanked by her child from a previous marriage and their two children together, in front of more than two dozen supporters, including several prominent members of the local civil rights community.

But the matter is far from settled.

Lee Thompson's statements directly contradict police reports from multiple jurisdictions that attributed allegations of abuse to witnesses and Lee Thompson herself. She spoke of one incident, from 2003 in Superior, Wis., at length, but never quite articulated what she thought could have led two pedestrians to identify John Thompson as striking Lee Thompson in front a of a grocery store.

"I keep saying, 'Nothing happened,'" Lee Thompson said, recounting what she says she told police. She said the event was traumatizing, and that she was being threatened with losing custody of her 5-year-old daughter. "So I tell them what they want to hear," she said at one point after appearing to suggest that the witnesses must have been mistaken in what they thought they saw.

But that appears to be the only incident Lee Thompson discussed on Monday.

UNSETTLING INTERRUPTION

It's unclear if Lee Thompson had intended to discuss others. Monday's event at one point was interrupted by a woman who drove a sport utility vehicle with a large Trump sign up the Capitol mall — off the road — directly at the news conference.

She pulled up short of the event — separated by a barrier of steps — and began yelling obscenities about George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. The woman was white. The Thompsons and most of his supporters at the press conference were Black.

When law enforcement arrived, they appeared set to allow the woman to leave, but she then began driving around the Capitol lawn, leading police on a short vehicle chase across the grounds before pulling over. Authorities did not release her, and an hour later, she remained in her vehicle, officers speaking to her through her vehicle window.

Many of those holding the news conference said the unsettling incident showed the threats from white supremacists that Black leaders — and especially Thompson — face as a result of fighting for racial justice.

When the news conference resumed, Lee Thompson continued speaking, defiantly defending her husband and criticizing the media. She noted both she and Thompson are 50 years old, and said it was unfair to dredge up old incidents that long predate Thompson's service as an elected official.

A machinist and handyman who became an activist, John Thompson was elected to represent St. Paul's East Side in November, his first bid for public office.

EAGAN INCIDENT

Lee Thompson did not discuss on Monday other events in which Thompson was accused of violence against her or other women.

In 2004, Lee Thompson — who has used different names on social media and in public records, and spelled her first name as "Lee" to a Pioneer Press reporter on Monday — accused John Thompson of attacking her in the Eagan apartment where they lived, according to public records.

Lee Thompson told officers who responded that John Thompson threw her against a table, which broke, that he choked her to the point where she couldn't breathe and was close to passing out, and that he dismantled the telephone during the final of three attempts she made to call 911, according to police reports obtained by the Pioneer Press.

The police reports said she also told police Thompson had threatened to kill her and that he had assaulted her before, in Superior in 2003, saying Thompson was jailed for the incident — which Thompson was in connection with that incident, according to a Superior police report.

According to an Eagan report, much of Lee Thompson's statement was recorded by a responding officer. Eagan police no longer have recorded statements, due to the length of time that passed, according to the police department.

Parts of Lee Thompson's account in 2004 were corroborated by a child who was present, according to police reports.

According to the police reports, John Thompson denied the events happened as alleged. He said the table had been previously broken and that it was he who called 911 and Lee Thompson who dismantled the phone.

One of the police officers reported that he saw "bruises consistent with fingertips on (Lee Thompson's) neck consistent with being choked." He reported he photographed them. The police file contains photographs of a woman, images reviewed by the Pioneer Press, that show marks along the base of her neck.

Thompson was charged in Dakota County with terroristic threats, interference with a 911 call and domestic assault, according to a criminal complaint. He pleaded guilty in Dakota County to disorderly conduct and the other charges were dismissed, according to a register of actions. He was sentenced to one year probation to the court, and was ordered to complete anger management counseling, the court record shows.

The allegations involved in that incident — though never proven in court — raised red flags among numerous lawmakers, given the intimacy and lethality of choking, an aspect well accepted among advocates for domestic abuse survivors.

SUPPORTERS DESCRIBE DOUBLE STANDARD

Thompson has been in a whirlwind of recent controversy, including a July 4 traffic stop in which he furnished a Wisconsin drive's license and said he was racially profiled, as well as a misdemeanor jury conviction last week for obstructing legal process at a hospital in 2019.

But it was only after the publishing of some of the details of the police reports involving alleged violence toward women that fellow Democrats called for his resignation.

It was unclear why Lee Thompson declined to answer questions following her defense of John Thompson Monday. "I'm not interested in answering any more of y'all's questions," she said when reporters were given an opportunity to ask questions.

When the first question was posed to John Thompson, he responded, in part: "I can't answer any questions ... without my attorney present, who's in another state right now."

Others who spoke in Thompson's defense said he was being held to a double standard. They suggested that unproven allegations from years back are held against Black leaders, but not their white counterparts. Several described the recent reporting of the allegations as "character assassination."

HORTMAN UNPERSUADED

When asked for a response to Thompson's news conference, House Speaker Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, issued the following statement Monday:

"I believe it's in the best interest of John Thompson, his family, and the institution for him to resign.

"As the Speaker of the House, I have limited options in these instances, including removing a member from committees. The Ethics Committee has a broader range of options available to it, and the Speaker does not personally file ethics complaints. I believe it is important that matters relating to Representative Thompson proceed through the Ethics Committee process and that the House as a whole makes a final decision on any consequences that it deems appropriate."

No formal ethics complaint has been filed on these matters. Republican House leaders have said they have prepared complaints. It's unclear if any Democrats have.

There are a number of paths that fellow lawmakers could take to seek sanctions against Thompson, ranging from formal rebukes to expulsion from the chamber. It remains unclear how such processes might work for allegations that predate his time in the Legislature.

Several of Thompson's defenders criticized the calls for his resignation from what amounts to leaders of the DFL establishment — most of whom are white. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a Native American and former lawmaker who was a founding member of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus of which Thompson is now a member, is an exception; she has also called for him to resign.

A number of Thompson's defenders on Monday said the the only people who should decide Thompson's future, other than he and his family, are those who put Thompson in office: the voters of his district.