GOP

BUTLER, Pa. — The estranged wife of Republican Senate candidate Sean Parnell testified under oath Monday that he choked her until she bit him to escape, that he hit their young children and verbally lashed out at her with obscenities and insults.

In tearful testimony, Laurie Parnell told a family court judge said that her husband once called her a “whore” and a “piece of s — " while pinning her down, and other time lashed out at their young children. Once, she said, Sean Parnell slapped one child hard enough to leave fingerprint-shaped welts through the back of the child’s T-shirt. And she said he once got so angry he punched a closet door with such force it swung into the child’s face and left a bruise. She said Parnell told his child: “That was your fault.”

She also testified that after a Thanksgiving trip in 2008 he briefly forced her out of their vehicle alongside a highway after raging at her, telling her to “go get an abortion.”

”Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger towards my wife or any of our three children,” the statement said. “What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth. Next week, I’ll have an opportunity to present the truth to the court and I look forward to that opportunity.”

Still, the sworn, public testimony — which took place after Sean Parnell had tried and failed to win a court order silencing his wife — seemed certain to significantly damage his ambitions, after he had emerged as the likely front runner in a critical U.S. Senate race, one of a handful that could decide control of the chamber. The state’s incumbent Republican senator, Pat Toomey, is not seeking another term.

Parnell’s campaign web site prominently displays photos of him smiling alongside the couple’s three school-age children. The site also describes him as an abortion-opponent who “will always vote to protect the unborn.”

In a cramped, hot hearing room in this city north of Pittsburgh, Laurie Parnell painted him as a father filled with intense rage and post-traumatic stress disorder, saying the abuse began even before they were married, in 2010, but became worse in 2017 and 2018. Both incidents involving Sean and their children happened in those latter years. They separated in May 2018.

Once, she testified, “He tried to choke me out on a couch and I literally had to bite him” to get free. “He was strangling me.”

He would rage at her during long car rides to visit family, she said. “He would go off on me and I wasn’t sure why.”

Wearing jeans, leather boots and a black Under Armour jacket, Sean Parnell watched just feet from his wife as she testified. His expression was not visible to reporters in the room.

Monday was the start of a three-day custody trial. Laurie Parnell, who is seeking primary custody, was not subjected to cross-examination Monday, so she was not challenged on her account. Sean Parnell’s campaign noted that despite all of the accusations, the couple currently splits custody of their children.

Laurie Parnell and two of her siblings, testified before a judge overseeing the case Monday. A handful of reporters, along with a member of Parnell’s campaign team, watched from a small bench in the back.

Parnell’s personal conduct amid his acrimonious divorce has become the most glaring question around his candidacy. He had already faced attacks from one GOP rival, Jeff Bartos, over temporary protective orders issued against him in 2017 and 2018, though neither of those became permanent and both were later expunged.

But until Monday there was little information about Laurie Parnell’s specific allegations.

In her testimony, she said her family grew to be terrified of her husband.

At times he would scream at her, sometimes holding her down by her thighs, in what she called “Sean-a-logues.” . ”It was just Sean and no one else got to talk,” she said.

She said she considered calling police, but that Sean warned against placing such a call. The family was then relying on his income as a public speaker and television commentator.

“He said it would ruin his image,” if she called police, she said.

Sean was diagnosed with PTSD and 90% disabled, she said, after his serving in Afghanistan, seeing heavy combat in 2006 and 2007 and receiving two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He later published a book about his time in the war. His publisher says he lectures in part about PTSD.

At least one Republican, former U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, from Chester County, immediately called on Parnell to drop out of the race.

After this testimony “he’d lose to a golden retriever by double digits,” Costello tweeted. “He should write books & play hero on Fox & [get out] of the race. He’s a disaster of a candidate.”

Costello has in the past suggested he might run for Senate himself.

Temporary protective orders like the ones previously issued against Sean Parnell are granted before the defendant has a chance to respond, and are commonly approved. In 2020, almost nine out of 10 requests for temporary protection from abuse orders were granted, according to Pennsylvania court figures.

Permanent protective orders are only issued after a joint hearing involving both parties. Neither of the temporary orders against Sean Parnell became permanent. The first ended after an agreement between the couple, according to court records supplied by Sean Parnell’s campaign, and a judge dismissed the second order after a hearing.

Laurie Parnell said Monday she agreed to end the first temporary order in hopes she and Sean could reconcile with Sean.

Sean Parnell also sought a protective order against Laurie in 2018, but was denied even a temporary order.

For Trump, the flurry of charges from Laurie Parnell meant that he has now endorsed two Republican candidates shadowed by domestic abuse allegations.

In September, the former president had urged former NFL star Herschel Walker to run for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, endorsing him one day after he gave Parnell the nod and campaigning with him.

Walker’s ex-wife has testified that he was physically abusive and threatening toward her. A judge in Texas issued a protective order that prevented him from possessing a gun for a time.