Many have been calling for the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, Jennifer Carnahan, to step down following the arrest of Tony Lazzaro and allegations that she was aware of his actions.
Listen to your favorite News/Talk station now on Audacy.
Amidst the allegations, Carnahan has declined that she was involved in or knew about Lazzaro's actions and that she did anything wrong. She spoke with News Talk 830 WCCO's Paul and Jordana on the growing calls for her to step down.
Lazzaro is currently facing charges of sex trafficking children and was known as a GOP strategist and donor. Lazzaro has donated upwards of $240,000 to different campaigns across the state, and Carnahan received many donations from him.
While many have given Lazzaro's donations back, Carnahan has decided to keep what she received. She said that a big part of her job deals with raising money.
"A big part of my job, an important part of my job is raising money for the party," she said.
Related
Carnahan shared that she first met Lazzaro by knocking on his door while she was running for state senate and campaigning.
He helped with her campaign and became a significant donor for the party. After that, she shared that she had a political friendship with him.
"If you look at our party, we have thousands of donors," Carnahan said. "I have been chair for over four years, I've met so many people around this state that I call political friends… for us to know the personal background of every contributor, every person we meet, even those we have regular contact with, I think to imply this guilt by association is just wrong."
Carnahan says that she found out about Lazzaro when everyone else found out. She also said that she had no idea what Lazzaro was doing and that when the news broke, she was disgusted.
"I think a conviction of these charges warrants punishment to the fullest extent of the law," she said. "And to be quite honest with you, Paul, I think Mr. Lazzaro is going to spend the rest of his life in prison."
When it comes to her being questioned by the authorities, Carnahan laughed, saying, "I don't know why I would."
Related
Carnahan was asked about her relationship and how she could not have known about what was going on with the two seeming to be close as Lazzaro was at her wedding and bachelorette party.
"Yeah, he was invited to our wedding, but there were a lot of other Republicans invited to my wedding," she said.
"To insinuate or assume that I would know anything about this or have any idea is just categorically false."
Carnahan shared that several other party members had relationships with Lazzaro, and she wonders why no one is asking about their relationships with him.
When it comes to resignation, Carnahan finds herself recognizing those calling for her to step down.
"All the people calling for my resignation are people that didn't support me when I ran for reelection four months ago and won with over 67% of the vote on the first ballot," she said.
Carnahan says that she does not know anything about what happened and that it hurts her heart to see people accusing her. Instead she wants to focus on bring her party together.
"We need to keep our party focused on the right thing and not tear down innocent people," Carnahan said.
Carnahan is taking things a day at a time, but she shared that she does not plan to resign from her position.