A campaign aide for President Donald Trump’s 2016 race has filed a lawsuit in which she claims that the then-candidate grabbed her and kissed her without her consent before a rally in Florida, according to a Monday Washington Post report.
Alva Johnson says that she quickly turned her head so that the kiss mostly missed her mouth. She also alleges that Trump looked her up and down upon her hiring, saying “oh, beautiful, beautiful, fantastic.”
She told the Post that she felt “violated” by the unwanted grab and kiss and has since seen a therapist to help mitigate the emotional fallout.
The White House is denying the accusation.
“This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement to the Post.
Johnson said that then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida campaign director Karen Giorno witnessed the event, though both women deny it.
Johnson said she kept working for the campaign until shortly before the election.
As the New Yorker pointed out, team Trump may try to silence Johnson due to the non-disclosure agreement she broke by filing the lawsuit.
Trump has been accused of a variety of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women, but Johnson is the first to come forward since he’s been in office.
