Minnesota GOP Head Resigns After Sex Trafficking Claims Against Top Donor

Calls for Jennifer Carnahan to step down intensified after a close friend, GOP donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Jennifer Carnahan

Photographer: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
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Minneapolis (AP) -- The embattled leader of the Minnesota Republican Party has been forced to resign following accusations that she ran a “morally bankrupt” operation that was rife with verbal abuse, intimidation and sexual misconduct.

Jennifer Carnahan initially resisted calls to resign, saying she had no knowledge of sex-trafficking allegations against a prominent donor and a local college Republican chapter leader. She said a “mob mentality came out in this way to defame, tarnish and attempt to ruin my personal and professional reputation.”