Herman Cain: Sexual harassment allegations are false
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to the media outside of Trump Towers before a scheduled appearance with real estate mogul Donald Trump on October 3, 2011, in New York City.
Herman Cain's presidential campaign is pushing back against a Politico report released Sunday night that alleges two women filed charges of sexual harassment against Cain while he was president of the National Restaurant Association, reports MSNBC.
Politico's report claims that two women complained to colleagues and senior officials within the organization about inappropriate behavior by Cain back in the 1990s during his tenure as president of the trade group:
The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.
Slate reports that the women were offered payouts in the "five-figure" range. One of the women complained of an "unwanted sexual advance" by Cain in a hotel room.
The report was corroborated by multiple anonymous sources as well as documentation of the allegations and the resolution, reports the Boston Globe.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Republican presidential hopeful's campaign spokesperson, J.D. Gordon, pushed back in a written statement to the Associated Press, reportedly saying the "Inside-the-Beltway media" have begun to attack Cain with no proof:
Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain's tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.
The Washington Post reports that Cain would not respond to numerous attempts by Politico to confirm or deny the report, but Gordon did tell Politico the candidate was "vaguely familiar" with the allegations.
In a separate story, Politico points out that while Cain and his campaign have vehemently attacked the report's credibility, they have not denied any substantive part of the report.
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