On Wednesday, April 20, 2022 the Nebraska Freedom Coalition acquired documents that call into question the integrity of State Senator Julie Slama’s sexual assault allegations against Charles W. Herbster, candidate for Governor of Nebraska, and the claims she made in her interview with Ian Swanson on KFAB on April 14, 2022.
When Ian Swanson asked Senator Slama about the $10,000 donation she accepted from Mr. Herbster on December 13, 2020, and whether or not she asked for or prompted it, her response was, “He called me and told me he was going to give me $10,000 for my win”.
In true fashion of a highly-trained & prepped politician, she gave an answer without answering the questions asked, because she knew to do so would cast doubt on her story.
As evidenced by attached Images 2, 4-7 – Julie worked hard for that donation. She claims she was sexually assaulted by Mr. Herbster in the spring of 2019, yet had continued asking for a meeting with Mr. Herbster well into the fall of 2019. She had a meeting scheduled with him at his condo on September 20, 2019 at 1:15pm (Image 2). Additional correspondence with Derek Oden, former campaign manager of Charles Herbster for Governor, further supports the idea that Senator Slama did in fact solicit this meeting and donation (Images 4-5). Mr. Herbster was committed to donating to both Janet Palmtag and Julie Slama’s campaigns, and after Julie won in November of 2020, she called Derek Oden on November 10, 2020 to yet again request Mr. Herbster fulfill his $10,000 pledge to her campaign (Image 6), which he did on December 13, 2020 (Image 7).
Additionally, she mentions Mr. Herbster was invited to her wedding by “accident” via an auto-populated invitation list including donors to her and her husband’s campaigns. One issue with this point is that we have verified with a number of both LaGrone and Slama donors that were in fact not invited to the wedding. This leads us to believe that the invite list was not in fact auto-populated from the donor list, and that it was no “accident” that Charles Herbster was invited to the wedding (Image 8). She claims she was “horrified” to find out that he had RSVP-ed attendance to their wedding, yet she had no problem texting him her home address to send a gift to?
When Ian questioned her about Mr. Herbster sending her a wedding gift, she confidently stated, “I genuinely believe that exchange was a set up and meant to get into my head”. She goes on to note that though her address is public information, Mr. Herbster waited outside of an event venue for her and her husband to ask about their address. She continued, “he very well could have looked it up on his own if he wanted to send us a wedding gift, but I very much believe it was a mind game he was trying to pull”.
If she truly believes it was a mind game, why then would she text her address to Mr. Herbster on January 22, 2022? (Image 9) Why would her now-husband have accepted a donation not once, but twice, from the man who sexually assaulted his wife? (Images 1, 3)
Senator Slama describes these allegations as “one of the most traumatizing things [she’s] ever been through”. However, upon recounting this horrific trauma, she still has the wherewithal to take a political jab at, whom she describes as “liberal”, Janet Palmtag, a long-time Republican Party member and volunteer whom she ran against in 2020.
Julie Slama tries to purport that she has “nothing to gain and everything to lose” by pushing this story. We could not disagree more. Given that Julie Slama: formerly worked for Jessica Flanagain, right-hand-woman and political strategist to Governor Ricketts and candidate for Governor Jim Pillen; was appointed by Governor Ricketts to the legislature; has endorsed and campaigned for hand-picked Rickett’s successor, Jim Pillen; and has been a long-time benefactor of the Rickett’s and Flanagain stranglehold across the state, Julie definitely has a vested political interest in pushing this story in attempts to prevent front-runner Charles Herbster from getting elected.
When considering all context, receipts, and timelines surrounding this story, do these actions seem more aligned with those of an experienced, political operative or a mortified, scared victim?
You be the judge.
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