Democrat Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif) is facing scrutiny for allegedly physically and verbally abusing her now ex-husband.
According to court documents, Porter reportedly threw "toys, books, and other objects" at him while the two were married. The Democrat even poured boiling mashed potatoes on his head during a fight.
In 2006, Hoffman said that he was making mashed potatoes for dinner when Porter came into the kitchen, dissatisfied, and yelled, "'Can't you read the f***ing instructions!' She then took the ceramic bowl of steaming hot potatoes and dumped it on my head, burning my scalp."'
Matthew Hoffman, who is running to fill retiring Senator Dianne Feinstein's open seat in the chamber, requested a restraining order against Porter in 2013, claiming he was "routinely" called an "f—ing idiot" and "f—ing incompetent" by his raging wife. She also allegedly shattered a glass coffee pot on their kitchen counter because she felt it wasn't clean enough.
"When she gets angry, she will claw and scratch her arms and then say to me, 'Look what you made me do!'" Hoffman said in court filings. "She regularly says I am a bad parent in front of the kids. Recently the children began spitting at me and throwing their food at me, calling me 'bad daddy.'"
Hoffman said Porter hit him, causing a big bruise to swell on his arm. He said that the Democrat reportedly "waited all day, then called the police" and "made false allegations" against him nearly 11 hours after a confrontation while brushing their teeth the day the police were called to their residence.
Police arrested him on charges of battery after the confrontation in April 2013.
However, Porter denied the allegations saying that her ex-husband incited violence by using his elbow to push her aside after he rushed toward her, causing her to stumble and catch herself on a nearby bookshelf.
"He told me that I better not call the police because if I did, our children would go to foster care," Porter said in court documents. "More terrifying, Respondent said, 'Do you want me to kill myself? Is that what you are trying to make happen here?"
Porter was the family's primary breadwinner, while Hoffman stayed home and cared for their three children.