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I'm about to be a survivor of sexual assault. Here is what pic.twitter.com/WFjNhzBee8
Julia Salazar for State Senate (@ SalazarSenate18) September 11, 2018
Salazar, a 27-year-old Democratic Socialist, is challenging well-funded incumbent Martin Dilan in the Democratic Primary Election for the 18th senate district, which includes Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Parts of Bed-Stuy. Her campaign picked up momentum after Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez's stunning primary victory over incumbent Joe Crowley, but multiple inaccuracies and strange omissions from his official biography have continued to surface. Most recently, it was reported that Salazar had been arrested for allegedly impersonating the ex-wife of the former Met Keith Hernandez; that she had been sleeping with the baseball legend; and that she's also stinging dollars (in cash, wine, and Pottery Barn vouchers) from the household Hernandez.
Salazar denies all of it, pointing to a defamation lawsuit against Hernandez's wife who was decided in her favor. And she was very late. But other questions, such as those regarding her political affiliations: Salazar only recently registered as a Democrat, having previously identified as a Republican and an Independent on voting registration forms in her home state of Florida. Despite her current advocacy for reproductive rights and justice, she is an anti-abortion group in college. Questions have been raised about her Jewish identity and her economic status growing up. She has walked back the notionShe was born in Colombian-born immigrant, and has been criticized in the NY Times for being implied that she graduated from Columbia University.
On Tuesday, the government watchdog group Citizens Union took the unusual step of rescinding its endorsement of Salazar.
"Citizenship has not been properly upheld, Citizens Union has decided to express no preference in this race," Randy Mastro, chairperson of Citizens Union, said in a statement.
The Democratic Socialists of America, however, stands by her, saying Gothamist in a statement: "DSA continues to support Salazar's campaign and policies."
It is not hard to believe that the Daily Caller would like to think that Salazar, from which politics they despise, fabricated a story about Keyes, who-according to the Times of Israel-denies the allegations. In the past, the Daily Caller has asked such questions, "Are we convicting too many suspects?" and smeared women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, attempting to discredit their accounts.
It is also worth remembering that Salazar did not come forward of her own volition. And then, an estimated two in three rapes go unreported to law enforcement-in large part because survivors fear retaliation and backlash. And for every 1,000 rapes, roughly seven perpetrators will be convicted. Whatever the case may be, the real number of false reports is vanishingly small.
This story is, however, developing. The Daily Caller did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We will update as we learn more.
UPDATE: The Daily Caller published its story Tuesday afternoon, alleging that Salazar wrote about the assault on Facebook in 2016, but then deleted the post. The Israeli Times covered the accusations at the time without naming Salazar, according to the Caller, which received a tip from a "friend" of the candidate. "This man, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's new spokesperson, is an American who is sexually assaults women-and I am here to tell you this firsthand experience," her post reportedly read. "I still remember the night that this happened, and have a record that corroborates it."
In a statement to Gothamist, Kinnucan confirmed: "Julia posted a private FB post to her friends list to warn other women who knew Keyes.
UPDATE: In response to Gothamist's request for comment, Daily Caller Foundation-Editor News-in-Chief Christopher Bedford said, "I think our reporting largely stands for itself." He added that he was "disappointed" to see that it was "intended to be a question of survival".
Meanwhile, Kinnucan tells Gothamist that Salazar "deleted [the post] because she found out an FB friend had screen-shotted it [it] to a reporter. "She" felt betrayed and scared of retaliation, "he continued.
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