woman who worked with Herman Cain in the 1990s says he made inappropriate advances toward her when she sought his help looking for a new job.
The woman, Sharon Bialek, said she met Cain for dinner in the summer of 1997 after she had lost her job at a foundation affiliated with the National Restaurant Association. She told reporters at a press conference that he inappropriately touched her after their meeting over dinner in Washington.
Bialek says she told Cain at the time: “What are you doing, you know I have a boyfriend, this isn’t what I came here for.” Bialek said Cain said, “You want a job don’t you?”
Monday’s news conference marks the second time one of Cain’s accusers has broken her silence.
Joel Bennett, an attorney who represented one Cain accuser when she received a cash settlement in 1999, released a statement last week saying that Cain engaged in “inappropriate behavior” and made “unwanted advances” while CEO of the National Restaurant Association.
The woman declined to reveal her identity or detail Cain’s behavior in a specific way, but Bennett said his client had multiple encounters with Cain and that Cain’s repeated denials that he had done nothing wrong are “inaccurate factually.”
Cain initially offered conflicting accounts of whether he recalled the specific allegations, though denied that he harassed anyone. The campaign also turned to blaming Republican rivals for the news. Since then, Cain has repeatedly refused to discuss the issue in detail, even as it engulfs his campaign.
In a brief encounter with POLITICO reporters Friday, ahead of Cain’s speech to the Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream Summit, Cain’s chief of staff Mark Block refused to comment on the campaign’s strategy to handle media reports of the allegations, telling POLITICO “we’re just not going to play by your rules,” before walking into a restricted area at the Washington Convention Center.
And the candidate himself says he too is done talking about the claims.
After a weekend debate with Republican rival Newt Gingrich, Cain clashed with reporters and refused to answer questions about the allegations or provide additional information to reporters.
Cain, in The Woodlands, Texas, said the campaign was “getting back on message, end of story.”
Cain continues to keep a low profile ahead of Wednesday’s CNBC debate, with no public appearances scheduled. But ABC News announced that Cain would sit for an interview with reporter Jon Karl in Scottsdale, Ariz. Tuesday as part of the network’s “Newsmakers” series.
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