Why an Ex-Trump campaign staffer is suing pervy orange Lothario
Sarah Sanders denies it ever happened, but we can’t un-see it in our imaginations.
Breaking at WaPo:
A staffer on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign says he kissed her without her consent at a small gathering of supporters before a Florida rally, an interaction that she alleges in a new lawsuit still causes her anguish.
In interviews with The Washington Post, and in the lawsuit, Alva Johnson said Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips as he exited an RV outside the rally in Tampa on Aug. 24, 2016. Johnson said she turned her head and the unwanted kiss landed on the side of her mouth, which she called “super-creepy and inappropriate.”
“I immediately felt violated because I wasn’t expecting it or wanting it,” she said. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face.”
Johnson said she told her boyfriend, mother and stepfather about the incident later that day, an account all three confirmed to The Post. Two months later, Johnson consulted a Florida attorney about the unwanted kiss; he gave The Post text messages showing that he considered her “credible” but did not take her case for business reasons. The attorney gave Johnson the name of a therapist, whose notes, which The Post reviewed, reference an unspecified event during the campaign that had left her distraught.
And lest we forget…
Back in 2005, Trump was recorded saying he kissed women and grabbed them by their genitals without consent.
“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said during a taping of “Access Hollywood.”
“Grab ’em by the p—y. You can do anything,” he added.
Johnson, who is black, also claims that she was paid less than white employees with similar duties and even some lower-ranking staff.
She alleged she was paid $4,000 per month between September 2016 until she left the campaign. Austin Browning, who was hired when he was a high school senior, was paid $7,817.78 in September 2016, $8,592.30 in October 2016 and $6,421.07 in November 2016, according to the lawsuit.
Developing on a Monday morning that portends another “infrastructure week” for Donald. For those of you who want the 101 on the term “Lothario,” it turns out to be a high literary reference, so click and look no further!
