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As Trump’s defense pick withdraws, he addresses violent domestic incidents
Washington Post ^ | 06/18/2019 | Aaron Davis and Shawn Boburg

Posted on 06/18/2019 10:20:19 AM PDT by GIdget2004

In the months that he has served as President Trump’s acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan has worked to keep domestic violence incidents within his family private. His wife was arrested after punching him in the face, and his son was arrested after a separate incident in which he hit his mother with a baseball bat. Public disclosure of the nearly decade-old episodes would re-traumatize his young adult children, Shanahan said.

On Tuesday, Trump announced in a tweet that Shanahan would not be going through with the nomination process, which had been delayed by an unusually lengthy FBI background check, “so that he can devote more time to his family.”

Shanahan spoke publicly about the incidents in interviews with The Washington Post on Monday and Tuesday.

“Bad things can happen to good families . . . and this is a tragedy, really,” Shanahan said. Dredging up the episode publicly, he said, “will ruin my son’s life.”

In November 2011, Shanahan rushed to defend his then 17-year-old son, William Shanahan, in the days after the teenager brutally beat his mother. The attack had left Shanahan’s ex-wife unconscious in a pool of blood, her skull fractured and with internal injuries that required surgery, according to court and police records.

Two weeks later, Shanahan sent his ex-wife’s brother a memo arguing that his son had acted in self-defense.

“Use of a baseball bat in self-defense will likely be viewed as an imbalance of force,” Shanahan wrote. “However, Will’s mother harassed him for nearly three hours before the incident.”

Details of the incidents have started to emerge in media reports about his nomination, including a USA Today report Tuesday about the punching incident in 2010.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aarondavis; alcoholism; cooccurring; districtofcolumbia; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; jeffbezos; markesper; mediawingofthednc; mentalillness; partisanmediashills; patrickshanahan; presstitutes; shawnboburg; smearmachine; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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1 posted on 06/18/2019 10:20:19 AM PDT by GIdget2004
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To: GIdget2004

Being a parent and a spouse is a tremendous responsibility, for some kids or domestic situations that can be a very heavy cross.

Hope he takes this opportunity to find some additional community assistance in whatever township he lives.

Its “ok” to go through marriage counseling and personal counseling. Its definitely “ok” to seek help when things reach a level beyond “normal.”

Church Pastors can probably provide you with a resources for family support.


2 posted on 06/18/2019 10:25:30 AM PDT by Bayard
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To: GIdget2004

The President didn’t know about this BEFORE making the nomination?


3 posted on 06/18/2019 10:26:48 AM PDT by bwest
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To: GIdget2004

That’s rather shocking. Makes you wonder how someone with so much baggage could be selected in the first place. Insufficient vetting? I wasn’t really comfortable with Shanahan just because of his connections to Boeing.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Army, Mark Esper, has been named the new Acting Secretary of Defense, according to a recent Trump tweet.


4 posted on 06/18/2019 10:27:40 AM PDT by be-baw
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To: GIdget2004

Sounds like mom was a violent drunk


5 posted on 06/18/2019 10:28:41 AM PDT by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: wardaddy

Likely borderline


6 posted on 06/18/2019 10:32:55 AM PDT by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: wardaddy

[[Likely borderline]]

Was briefly involved with a women with BPD.

One of the worst experiences of my life.

(I’m not condoning what happened here before anybody goes into vapor lock)


7 posted on 06/18/2019 10:38:44 AM PDT by headstamp 2
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To: headstamp 2

Freepers before they launch characteristic scold should read the whole article

You’re lucky btw


8 posted on 06/18/2019 10:43:48 AM PDT by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: GIdget2004
Public disclosure of the nearly decade-old episodes would re-traumatize his young adult children, Shanahan said.

This article reminds me of part of the Monty Python skit involving the television game show "Blackmail":

Announcer: Hello! Hello! Hello! Thank you,thank you. Hello good evening and welcome, to BLACKMAIL! Yes, it's another edition of the game in which you can play with *yourself*. (applause) And to start tonight's show, let's see our first contestant, all the way from Manchester, on the big screen please: MRS. BETTY TEAL! (applause, which suddenly stops when the clap track tape breaks) Hello, Mrs. Teal, lovely to have you on the show. Now Mrs. Teal, if you're looking in tonight, this is for 15 pounds: and is to stop us from revealing the name of your LOVER IN BOULTON!! So, Mrs. Teal, send us 15 pounds, by return of post please, and your husband Trevor, and your lovely children Diane, Janice, and Juliet, need never know the name... of your LOVER IN BOULTON!

9 posted on 06/18/2019 10:46:26 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: GIdget2004

I’m beginning to think that Ikea has better cabinets than the President does.


10 posted on 06/18/2019 10:47:42 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: GIdget2004

If the mother was violent the kid defended himself. That kind of abuse builds until finally it’s made to stop.

He has a new family and new wife, his life will be put through even more trauma. He didn’t hit his wife, his wife hit him. He didn’t hit his son, his son defended himself against his mom.


11 posted on 06/18/2019 10:48:11 AM PDT by McGavin999 (Border security without a wall is like having a Ring doorbell without a doorw)
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To: bwest

You know...knee-jerk slams like yours at President Trump are so tiresome. How do you expect him to know 8-yr-old details of someone’s private life? Shanahan was being vetted by the FBI in an unusually lengthy process according to the article. The details are only just now emerging and Shanahan is no longer the nominee. What more do you want?


12 posted on 06/18/2019 10:48:44 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (This Deplorable is not fooled by the Marxist-Stalinist totalitarians infesting the Dem Party.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

13 posted on 06/18/2019 10:48:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: GIdget2004

It sounds like he himself did not instigate any of the violence. Trying to save the rest of them from the Kavanaugh treatment apparently.

Democrats are truly horrible, horrible people.


14 posted on 06/18/2019 10:51:09 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: DoodleDawg

No, they are all the same. Trumps cabinet is the only one exposed.


15 posted on 06/18/2019 10:51:12 AM PDT by McGavin999 (Border security without a wall is like having a Ring doorbell without a doorw)
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To: Bayard

Marriage counseling doesn’t work; staying together “for the kids” is a bad option, just get a divorce and heal.


16 posted on 06/18/2019 10:56:12 AM PDT by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
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To: GIdget2004

My God,it is NOT that hard to make a list,vet the list,confer with the best advisors and make a sound decision. A very serious problem with POTUS is that he has HORRIBLE advisors!.


17 posted on 06/18/2019 11:22:24 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: be-baw

“Makes you wonder how someone with so much baggage...”


As I understand it, Shanahan did nothing wrong—he was the victim of domestic violence.


18 posted on 06/18/2019 11:35:41 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: Avalon Memories

Easily triggered, aren’t we? Read the article again—it’s beyond the pale. This information should have been uncovered for Shanahan’s first government appointment, and I don’t understand how it was overlooked by Boeing.
It’s an unforced error.
Surely you see that.


19 posted on 06/18/2019 2:05:57 PM PDT by bwest
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To: yldstrk

>>>Marriage counseling doesn’t work; staying together “for the kids” is a bad option, just get a divorce and heal.

Strongly disagree. Unless we’re talking about dangers to life and health Marriage isn’t something that is trashed. People who are married have a duty to work it out. Yes they have a duty to their kids also to work it out.

Marriage counseling does in fact help, if it doesn’t in your case, fire the counselor and get another one. Kids in divorced homes statistically are more at risk for many kinds of life endangering behavior.


20 posted on 06/18/2019 3:18:29 PM PDT by Bayard
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