Doug Emhoff Dismisses Domestic-Violence Allegations as ‘Distraction,’ Doesn’t Deny Report By Brittany Bernstein
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff says claims that he “forcefully” slapped his then-girlfriend in 2012 are a “distraction” – but did not deny the allegations in a new interview that aired Friday.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough gave Emhoff an opportunity to respond to several “tabloid stories about your personal life.” Reporting from the Daily Mail has claimed Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend during the Cannes Film Festival more than ten years ago, with sources telling the outlet he hit the unnamed woman so hard that she “spun around.” The story, which is based on claims from several of the unnamed women’s friends as she declined to speak with the outlet, suggested he may have hit her in a moment of jealousy after he believed she had been flirting with a valet.
Other reporting from the outlet indicated he was “inappropriate” and “misogynistic” during his time working at a Los Angeles law firm.
“We don’t have time to be pissed off,” Emhoff told Scarborough. “We don’t have time to focus on it. It’s all a distraction. It’s designed to try to get us off our game.”
While Emhoff did not deny the allegations, a spokesperson for Emhoff previously told Semafor that the report was “untrue.” “Any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false,” the spokesperson said.
Vice President Kamala Harris began dating Emhoff in 2013 and the pair wed in August 2014.
Emhoff in August publicly admitted to having an affair during his first marriage after the Daily Mail reported that he cheated on his first wife and got their nanny pregnant.
“During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side,” Emhoff told CNN in August.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Daily Mail cites Emhoff’s former colleagues from Venable who say he “yelled expletives, held a men-only cocktail hour in the office, revoked work perks from women who didn’t flirt with him, and took only young, attractive associates in a limousine to a ball.”
The reporting on Emhoff’s past comes as Democrats and progressive pundits work to sell Emhoff as the embodiment of positive masculinity.
Just last month, MSNBC’s Jen Psaki claimed Emhoff had reshaped “the perception of masculinity.”
“To me, it’s the right thing to do,” Emhoff told Psaki of his role as a supportive spouse.
Last year, he delivered a lecture on “toxic masculinity” during an appearance on MSNBC.
“There’s too much of toxicity — masculine toxicity out there, and we’ve kind of confused what it means to be a man, what it means to be masculine,” Emhoff said. “You’ve got this trope out there where you have to be tough, and angry, and lash out to be strong.
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, meanwhile, labeled Emhoff a modern day “sex symbol” due to his decision to step away from his law practice to support his wife’s political career.
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