What did the final DFL/Susan Ellingstad report on Keith Ellison say in full, and is it publicly available?
Executive summary
The DFL-hired investigator, attorney Susan Ellingstad, concluded the allegation by Karen Monahan that Keith Ellison dragged her from a bed in 2016 was "unsubstantiated," largely because Monahan refused to produce or permit review of the video she said would prove the incident, and the party forwarded the investigator’s findings to law enforcement for their review [1] [2] [3]. The DFL did not immediately publish the full report; news organizations obtained and reported on versions or excerpts, but there is no evidence in the provided reporting that the DFL released the complete final report publicly on its website or in an official press packet [2] [1].
1. What the report said — the core finding
Ellingstad’s investigative write-up concluded the allegation could not be substantiated; her report recorded that Monahan described having video of the incident but repeatedly declined to provide a copy for review, offering shifting explanations such as loss, storage on a USB drive, or emotional unreadiness, and that refusal undercut the ability to corroborate her claims [1] [3]. Multiple outlets summarized Ellingstad’s key factual determination that, without Monahan’s video or other independent corroboration, the allegation remained unproven and therefore unsubstantiated under the terms of the DFL review [4] [2].
2. What the report did about next steps — referral to authorities
After Ellingstad’s finding, the DFL said it would forward the investigative material to local authorities so prosecutors could decide whether further action was warranted; that step was publicly announced by DFL chairman Ken Martin and reported by news outlets contemporaneously with the leak of the report summary [2] [5]. Local law enforcement decisions about whether to open a criminal inquiry were then routed through city and county channels, a detail reported in contemporaneous coverage of the episode [3] [5].
3. Availability — is the full report public?
The DFL did not immediately release the full Ellingstad report, and coverage indicates reporters obtained copies or excerpts that were then reported on by the Associated Press, Twin Cities media and others; however, the party did not post an official, complete report for public download at the time of those stories, and the sources provided do not show a DFL-hosted public posting of the final document [2] [1]. That means readers relying on the sourcing shown here can access summaries and some leaked text through news outlets (which reported having obtained a version), but cannot point to an official DFL-hosted public release of the entire final report based on the provided records [1] [2].
4. Credibility disputes and possible conflicts of interest noted in coverage
Coverage at the time raised questions about perceived conflicts because Ellingstad was a partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen, the same firm that housed the DFL’s general counsel and had made contributions tied to party actors, and critics—particularly Republican opponents and some commentators—argued that connection could create an appearance of bias [6] [7]. The reporting also records that Monahan disputed characterizations of her credibility and said she participated reluctantly in the probe, and that Ellison described the DFL investigation as thorough and fair [7] [5].
5. What cannot be confirmed from the available reporting
The available sources here do not include the DFL’s own posted final report text or a direct, official DFL link to the complete document; therefore it cannot be asserted on the basis of these sources that the exact, unredacted final document is publicly hosted by the party—only that news organizations obtained copies or excerpts and reported the report’s dispositive conclusion that the allegation was unsubstantiated [1] [2]. Any claim about the report’s full, verbatim public availability beyond those news summaries would require locating a DFL-hosted release or the specific copy obtained by AP or other outlets, which these sources summarize but do not append in full [1] [2].