Flywin Lannister
Superstar
David Sorensen and Jessica Corbett at the Blaine House, the Maine governor's residence, on Thanksgiving Day in 2015. (Courtesy of Jessica Corbett)
Coli Cliffnotes
- Dude's a speech writer for the White House, she worked for a.o. Marco Rubio and New Gingrich
- She claims he abused her, threw her against walls, ran over her foot, put a cigarette out on her hand
- He denies all claims and claims she in fact punched him and physically abused him
- His ex-wife (who knows him 10 years) says he never raised his hands, says she does not believe it
- Her friends say she never said anything because he has powerful friends
The abrupt departure of David Sorensen, a speechwriter who worked under senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, came as The Washington Post was reporting on a story about abuse claims by his ex-wife, Jessica Corbett. Corbett told The Post that she described his behavior to the FBI last fall as the bureau was conducting a background check of Sorensen.
White House officials said they learned of the accusations by Sorensen’s wife Thursday night, before The Post contacted the White House for comment.
“We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today,” spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement Friday evening.
In a text message to The Post, Sorensen said he stepped down because he “didn’t want the White House to have to deal with this distraction.”
Corbett first contacted The Post a week before Porter’s case became public. She said that during her marriage to Sorensen, he ran a car over her foot, put out a cigarette on her hand, threw her into a wall and grasped her menacingly by her hair while they were alone on their boat in remote waters off Maine’s coast, an incident she said left her fearing for her life. During part of their marriage, he was a top policy adviser to Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage.
She said she did not report her abuse allegations to police because of Sorensen’s connections to law enforcement officials.
Corbett said several of the incidents involved alcohol and acknowledged that she slapped Sorensen a number of times after he called her a vulgar term.
Two friends and associates of Corbett said she confided in them during the marriage that her husband was abusive. Corbett also provided records of text messages and emails in which Sorensen berated her with vulgar language and she discussed the deteriorating marriage with others. She gave The Post a photo of her hand bearing a scar she said was from the cigarette burn.
In a lengthy statement, Sorensen said he had “never committed violence of any kind against any woman in my entire life.”
“In fact, I was the victim of repeated physical violence during our marriage, not her,” he added, saying he had consulted with an attorney and was “considering legal options to address her defamation.”
Sorensen alleged that Corbett punched him on multiple occasions. After one such episode, he said, he attempted to leave in his car and she ran after him as he was pulling away, injuring herself in the process.
In another incident, he said, she grabbed the steering wheel as he drove on a highway and punched him in the face during an argument.
In response to Sorensen’s allegations Friday evening, Corbett maintained that her violence never escalated beyond slapping him. “Everything I told you is 100 percent true and that is why he had to resign today,” she said.
The couple’s uncontested divorce became final in September, according to records reviewed by The Post.
Full article: Second White House official departs amid abuse allegations, which he denies