CLEVELAND (AP) - The Latest on Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill’s Facebook posts. (all times local):
6:15 p.m.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice and Democratic gubernatorial candidate William O’Neill says he apologizes if his Facebook post discussing his sexual history with women has offended anyone, particularly “the wonderful women in my life.”
O’Neill’s latest post on Saturday afternoon comes a day after he deleted the original post. He tells The Associated Press he removed it after a commenter on his Facebook page criticized him for being insensitive for including details that could identify some of the women.
O’Neill continues to defend Democratic Sen. Al Franken in his latest post, saying that comparing an allegation of groping made against Franken by a woman during a USO tour in 2006 to allegations that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted teenage girls decades ago “trivializes the serious subject at hand.”
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12:24 p.m.
An Ohio Supreme Court justice and Democratic gubernatorial candidate says he deleted a Facebook post outlining his sexual history after being criticized in part for potentially identifying some of the women.
Justice William O’Neill tells The Associated Press on Saturday he agreed with a commenter who said he was being “insensitive.”
He initially edited the post Friday to remove details about the women before deleting it altogether. He tells people to “lighten up” in a new post.
The initial post caused a furor, leading to condemnation by members of both parties and the court’s chief justice.
O’Neill’s post said he was speaking out while “the dogs of war” were calling for Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken to resign after groping accusations.
Social media commenters say he was trivializing sexual assault.
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