Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff dismissed allegations that he struck an ex-girlfriend during a booze-filled evening in France as a "distraction," avoiding a direct denial in a recent MSNBC interview.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff faced tough questions on Friday regarding allegations that he “forcefully” struck an ex-girlfriend during a booze-filled night in France over a decade ago. When pressed by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, Emhoff dismissed the report as a "distraction" intended to derail the 2024 campaign for his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We don’t have time to be pissed off,” Emhoff said, without directly denying the accusations. "It’s all a distraction. It’s designed to try to get us off our game."
The allegations, first reported by the *Daily Mail*, claim that Emhoff slapped a former girlfriend, a New York lawyer, so hard during a 2012 Cannes Film Festival event that she “spun around” in front of witnesses. Three sources corroborated the story, two of whom reportedly heard about the incident the same year. Emhoff’s spokesperson called the claims "untrue," but the second gentleman had not publicly addressed them until Friday.
Scarborough noted that former President Donald Trump had been amplifying the stories, while making “incredibly crude” comments about Harris. Emhoff, however, remained focused on the election, stating, “We understand the stakes. We understand the responsibility.”
Vice President Harris has yet to comment on the allegations, even as her past statements about believing women and supporting victims of abuse draw scrutiny in light of the controversy. The story has largely been ignored by major outlets, with neither Harris nor Emhoff fully addressing the specifics of the incident.
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