The IMF head and leading Socialist candidate for president Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested following the report of an alleged sexual assault. Better known as DSK in France, he had been widely considered to be the candidate who would soundly defeat Sarkozy in the elections next year. At this point regardless of his guilt or innocence he appears unlikely to even run as he will be busy defending himself in court.
DSK had recently apologized for behavior towards a female subordinate, though this is clearly a much more serious charge.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken off the Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was turned over to police for questioning Saturday afternoon, said Paul J. Browne, New York Police Department spokesman.In the last presidential election, Sarkozy had been charged with owning a secret offshore bank account, which was later proven false. Some claimed that was a plot by political opponents to discredit Sarkozy and remove him from the politics.
Strauss-Kahn was arrested at 2:15 a.m. Sunday on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment, and was awaiting arraignment, police said. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, did not immediately respond to phone or email messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.
The 32-year-old woman told authorities that she entered Strauss-Kahn's suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan's Times Square at about 1 p.m. Eastern time (1600 GMT) Saturday and he attacked her, Browne said. She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3000-a-night-suite suite, which she had been told was empty.
As we see everywhere in the world, politicians have been known to be abusive of their power and they are convinced that they are above the normal rules for everyone else. At the same time, political campaigns are dirty and nothing is surprising during an election cycle. This is going to be an interesting case to follow because the alleged incident did not occur on his home turf where politics could get inserted into the investigation.
To put this into US terms, if President Clinton was still campaigning for office and deeply part of the political process (even more than he already is today), there would be a lot of mixed thoughts if a story like this broke. Would it be reality or would it be smear politics? On the right, if Newt Gingrich was accused of something like this, people would also be wondering. Both have histories with other women but rape is a major step from having an affair.
Unlike the coverup of rape within the Catholic Church around the world, any politician found guilty of rape should not be excused simply because of their high rank. We should expect to hear more about this soon, including video of the alleged hallway chase at the French hotel chain. Let's see what the police discover during their investigation. Stay tuned...
