SENATOR Amy Klobuchar spoke at the inauguration of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is married to John Bessler. Here’s what we know about him.
Who is Amy Klobuchar’s husband John Bessler?
John Bessler was born on October 23, 1967, in Mankato, Minnesota.
He is a private practice attorney and has been a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law since 2009.
The same year he joined Georgetown University Law Center as an adjunct professor of law
Bessler has a degree in political science from the University of Minnesota, before graduating from the Maurer School of Law.
He obtained a Master of Studies from Oxford University in the UK in International Human Rights Law in 2008.
He has taught at the George Washington University Law School, Rutgers School of Law, and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
He was of counsel at Berens & Miller, a law firm in Minneapolis. from 2016-2019, and became of counsel part time at Stinson LLP in January 2025.
In January 2025, Bessler revealed he had been elected to the American Law Institute at the end of 2024.
The lawyer has written or edited 10 books in total, six of which were on capital punishment.
He received the 2015 Scribes Book Award for his 2014 book The Birth Of American Law: An Italian Philosopher And The American Revolution.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Amy Klobuchar hits out at ‘absolutely false’ claim she declined to prosecute cop who knelt on George Floyd’s neck” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”pV1KxHf2t” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6160372474001″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]When did Amy Klobuchar marry John Bessler?
Bessler married Amy Klobuchar in 1993 after meeting at the Coyote Cafe in Minneapolis.
In 2013, the Minnesota senator honored their 20th anniversary by sharing a photo on Facebook from their wedding day, along with a caption that revealed how Bessler proposed.
Klobuchar wrote: “Happy 20th anniversary to my husband John!
“You’re supposed to give china for the 20th, but I went with bookends in honor of his marriage proposal in the non-fiction aisle of the former Hungry Mind bookstore.
“Our wedding included a canoe trip for guests and a discounted cake from a bakery in the St. Paul bus depot (I said no to the plastic swans).”
She added: “Two decades later I still say no to the swans & yes to the guy.”
The couple have one daughter together, Abigail Bessler, who was born in 1995.
Abigail attended Yale University and works as a lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olso in Los Angeles.
Her mom – a Democrat and long-time critic of Donald Trump — spoke at his Presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Did John Bessler have coronavirus?
In April of 2020, Klobuchar and Bessler revealed that he had battled coronavirus at the hospital with an oxygen mask.
Bessler said he had begun to feel sick in March with persistent fevers.
He was diagnosed with pneumonia and had low oxygen, according to tests.
Klobuchar spoke to NBC’s Stephanie Gosk about Bessler’s diagnosis, saying: “It’s one of the hardest, hardest things — and I can’t even imagine those families where they hear the opposite news, you know — after he’s there for five days and it turns for the best.
“There are people where it turns for the worse, and they’re on ventilators, or they don’t make it, and it’s a heartbreaking thing, and it’s why we have to invest in testing and do everything to make up for the mistakes that were made at the beginning, where a country was not prepared for this.”
Aside from her husband’s battle with coronavirus, Klobuchar revealed on September 9, 2021, that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone treatment.
Klobuchar said that doctors found small white spots during a routine mammogram in February 2021, which led to her having a biopsy that diagnosed her with Stage 1A breast cancer.