A woman who worked for President Trump's 2016 campaign alleges in a lawsuit he kissed her without consent, The Washington Post reports.
Alva Johnson claims that in August 2016, Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her outside of a rally in Tampa, Florida. She called this "super creepy and inappropriate" and said, "I immediately felt violated because I wasn't expecting it or wanting it. I can still see his lips coming straight for my face."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Post confirmed with Johnson's boyfriend, mother, and stepfather that she told them about the incident at the time, and the outlet also reviewed her therapist's notes, which mention an unspecified incident during the campaign.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied Johnson's account, calling it "absurd on its face" and saying the allegation "never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eyewitness accounts." One eyewitness, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, says she "one hundred percent" does not recall seeing Trump kiss Johnson. Johnson said Bondi saw the kiss and smiled at her afterward.
Johnson, who says she quit the campaign shortly after the Access Hollywood tape leak, claims that when she first met Trump in 2015, he eyed her up and down and said, "Oh, beautiful, beautiful, fantastic," according to the lawsuit. She additionally says she was paid less than her white male colleagues, something a Trump campaign spokesperson also denied.
-
6 lovely barn homesFeature Featuring a New Jersey homestead on 63 acres and California property with a silo watchtower
-
Film reviews: ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Is This Thing On?’Feature A born grifter chases his table tennis dreams and a dad turns to stand-up to fight off heartbreak
-
Political cartoons for December 14Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a new White House flag, Venezuela negotiations, and more
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
