A woman who worked on President Trump’s 2016 campaign alleges in a new lawsuit that he kissed her without her consent.
Alva Johnson told the Washington Post that Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her as he exited an RV outside one of his rallies in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 24, 2016. Johnson said she turned her head as Trump leaned in and the alleged kiss landed on the side of her mouth.
“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, her mother and stepfather later that day about the incident. All three confirmed her story to the Post.
The federal lawsuit was filed Monday in Florida.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the allegation “absurd on its face.”
“This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts,” she said in a statement.
Johnson said Pam Bondi, the then Florida attorney general, and Karen Giorno, director of the Florida campaign, witnessed the alleged kiss. Both women denied seeing Trump kiss Johnson.
Stephanie Grisham, first lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman and the president’s press director in 2016, said she also did not see the alleged incident. Grisham told the Post she was in front of Trump as he left the RV.
Several women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, but Johnson has been the only accuser to come forward since he entered the White House.
Johnson is seeking unspecified damages for the emotional distress. She also alleges she was discriminated against for her race. Johnson, who is black, claims she was paid less than her white male counterparts.
Johnson said she considered making her allegation public after a video surfaced of Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent in October 2016.
Though registered as a Democrat, Johnson said she took a job with the Trump campaign as a director of outreach and coalitions in Alabama because she believed Trump would help struggling black communities. She worked in Florida in the months before the general election managing RVs that traveled around the state as mobile campaign offices.
After the alleged kiss, Johnson said she felt humiliated but continued working for Trump. After the “Access Hollywood” tape was released she stopped going into the office and quit three weeks before the election.
“She is having nightmares because of what happened,” Johnson’s therapist Lisheyna Hurvitz wrote on Oct. 27, 2016, according to notes provided to the Post.
Despite the alleged incident, Johnson twice applied for jobs in the Trump administration and attended one of the president’s inaugural balls. She did not get a job in the administration, but said that had no effect on her decision to sue.
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