Doug Emhoff has dismissed explosive stories that he slapped his ex-girlfriend and had an affair with his first wife as a “distraction” but did not deny them.
DailyMail.com reported in August that Second Gentleman Emhoff cheated on his first wife, Kerstin, and got the family nanny pregnant.
Stories emerged earlier this month that Kamala Harris’ husband “slapped” an ex-girlfriend at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and faced accusations that he was “misogynistic” to colleagues at a Los Angeles law firm.
Emhoff was asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough whether the accusations about his personal life ‘upset’ him.
The Morning Joe host did not ask him if DailyMail.com’s reports about his past were true.
Scarborough even reduced them to “tabloid” stories pushed by Donald Trump and Republican critics.
But Emhoff avoided the opportunity to slap them, ignoring them and insisting he was focused on the campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband attended an interview with Scarborough, who only asked a general question about the reports, presumably including a DailyMail report this month citing sources who said an ex-girlfriend said he slapped her while attending the Festival of Cannes Cinema. in 2012.
The host, a former Republican congressman from Florida, asked Emhoff a general question about “sensational stories about his personal life.”
The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, was asked about the tabloid stories during an interview on MSNBC. He did not deny DailyMail.com’s explosive stories, but instead said he and his vice-president wife “don’t have time to get angry.”
That gave him the opportunity to begin coverage without getting into the details of the accounts. His campaign has denied the slap allegations, while his statement on the matter fell far short of denying it.
“We don’t have time to get angry,” he told Scarborough. ‘We don’t have time to focus on that. It’s all a distraction. It is designed to try to throw us off our game.
‘Does it throw you off your game?’ Scarborough asked.
‘No. “The only thing we’re doing, the only thing we’re talking about, is this election,” Emhoff responded.
“We understand what’s at stake, we understand the responsibility,” he said, changing the subject to his wife’s campaign against former President Donald Trump.
‘Our own country, our future: what kind of future are we going to have? Who would you like to elect the next three Supreme Court justices? The guy who elected the three who overturned Roe v. Wade and want to take away more freedom? asked.
Another DailyMail.com story earlier this week brought to light complaints from a discrimination lawsuit against the Los Angeles law firm he ran, including the claim that he hired an “unqualified” part-time model as legal secretary ‘because she was young, attractive and friendly to the powerful men in the office.’
In response to the nanny story, Emhoff acknowledged “difficult times” in his marriage, although he avoided giving details. “During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through difficult times because of my actions,” he said in a statement. “I took responsibility and in the years since, we got through things as a family and came out stronger on the other side.”
A spokesperson denied the assault allegations, calling them “false” in a statement to the political website Semafor.
We don’t have time to focus on it. It’s all a distraction. “It’s designed to try to throw us off our game,” Emhoff said when asked about the reports.
Emhoff was asked “how can you stay focused?” after a series of reports about his past personal life and accusations about his conduct.
Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is accused of violently beating his ex-girlfriend, who DailyMail.com has chosen to refer to as ‘Jane’, for allegedly flirting with another man during an alcohol-fueled altercation in 2012. (The couple appears in the photo along with Jane’s face darkened.)
Interviewer Joe Scarborough asked Emhoff about Donald Trump’s attacks and how he handles ‘sensational stories about his personal life.’
Scarborough angered Emhoff by pointing out that his rival Donald Trump was “spreading things about you, telling sensational stories about your personal life.” He says it about his wife and makes incredibly crude and lewd suggestions about his past life.
“I’m just curious, I know I seem like a very zen and conscious person, but I think I would get angry and wonder, how can they stay focused? Do you stay disciplined and not get angry and respond strongly to these things?”
Trump has made a series of public comments related to Harris’ past relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.