BUTLER, Pennsylvania — The estranged wife of Pennsylvania Republican Sean Parnell admitted in June 2018 that Parnell was a “good dad” and asked her husband to watch their children, despite having accused Parnell of abusing their children in two alleged incidents earlier that year.

Laurie Snell was cross-examined Monday in a small courtroom in Butler County Courthouse, just north of Pittsburgh, about text messages she sent in June 2018, after the alleged incidents with the children, which she claims occurred in February and May of 2018.

Snell claimed in testimony last week that, in one incident, Parnell hit a child on the back and left welts, and that in the other incident, Parnell slammed a door that hit another child’s face and left a bruise.

Snell, however, confirmed that she had also asked Parnell, a now frontrunning candidate in Pennsylvania’s race for U.S. Senate, via text message, “Do you want to watch the kids on Saturday night?” on June 1, 2018. She also called Parnell a “good dad” in another text.

Parnell’s attorney clarified whether Snell was comfortable with Parnell being with their children, to which Snell said, “When they’re in public, he’s great with the kids,” emphasizing again later that she supports Parnell being around them “in public.”

Parnell’s attorney then asked why, if Snell had said Parnell abused the children, Snell would ask him to watch them in the house they owned together, which is not public.

Snell replied, “It’s pretty public.”

“Your home is public?” Parnell’s attorney asked.

Snell replied that security cameras previously installed by Parnell made it semi-public.

Snell also testified she had went on vacation with the children and Parnell soon after the first incident of alleged abuse.

A custody battle between Parnell and Snell is ongoing, and Parnell has not yet testified in the current hearings.

Establishment media outlets and Parnell’s political opponents have seized on the messy divorce proceedings and concurrent custody battle in an attempt to tarnish the candidate former President Donald Trump endorsed in the upcoming 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race. But the narrative became muddled in court this week, with the Philadelphia Inquirer — one outlet that originally pushed the story — highlighting problematic inconsistencies in Snell’s testimony in a follow-up story.

Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell poses for photos ahead of a campaign rally with President Donald Trump on September 22, 2020, in Moon Township, PA. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

In the original story that the Inquirer published a week ago, Parnell issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and accusing Snell of a “number of false allegations” on the witness stand, including “complete fabrications; not distortions or misrepresentations — just flat-out lies.”

“Let me emphatically state: I have never raised a hand in anger towards my wife or any of our three children,” Parnell said last week. “What happened today in court was not justice, nor did it have any basis in fact or truth.”

“The truth is I love my family and I love my children more than anything,” Parnell added in his statement.

The establishment wing of the Republican Party has seized on the testimony of Parnell’s ex-wife to tank the Trump-backed candidate’s Senate campaign. David McCormick, the husband of Dina Powell — a Goldman Sachs banker who briefly worked in the Trump White House — is reportedly considering a bid of his own for Senate in Pennsylvania.

While some in the establishment are trying to push McCormick into the race and stop Parnell’s Senate bid, it is hard to see Parnell’s candidacy not survive this latest hurdle, depending on an eventual ruling from the judge in the custody battle.

Whether establishment Republicans embrace Parnell after that remains to be seen, but in other states around the country like in Georgia the establishment has come around to Trump’s picks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell formally backing Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate there. Something similar could happen in Pennsylvania if Parnell’s campaign survives the media storm surrounding his custody fight.

This story is developing. Follow Breitbart News for more updates.