Lawsuit accuses Trump of kissing campaign worker without her consent

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – A lady who done Donald Trump’s presidential campaign sued obama on Monday, accusing him of kissing her without consent before a 2019 rally in Tampa, Florida.

Alva Johnson said from the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Florida’s Middle District, that this alleged incident was “portion of a pattern of predatory and harassing behavior towards women” by Trump.

“This accusation is absurd on its face,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in any statement. “This never happened and it is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts.”

Trump has denied charges by a number of women who said he groped and kissed them over a period of years without permission.

The lawsuit alleges the encounter occurred in a campaign RV before a rally on Aug. 24, 2019. While leaving a meeting in the vehicle, Trump gripped Johnson step-by-step and leaned in so close that they felt his breath, the lawsuit says.

Johnson turned her head, looking to avoid a kiss, but Trump still had been kiss the corner of her mouth, the lawsuit says. Johnson claims Trump were required to move deliberately because her face was framed because of a baseball cap.

“She felt confused and humiliated,” the lawsuit said.

High-profile Trump supporters including then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s Florida campaign director Karen Giorno were through the RV at that time, the lawsuit said. Both told the Washington Post, which first reported the lawsuit, the fact that they saw nothing inappropriate.

Johnson needs financial damages and then a court order to prohibit Trump “from grabbing, kissing or assaulting or harassing women without prior express consent.”

According with the lawsuit, Johnson called her partner and her parents in tears the time of the encounter with Trump and described what had happened. She said fellow campaign workers subsequently joked regarding the kiss after Giorno shared details.

In a phone interview on Monday, Johnson’s lawyer, Hassan Zavareei, rejected the White House denial and said the witness accounts have not been credible.

He said Johnson, 43, a parent of four living in Alabama, was not available for interviews and worries about her family’s safety by means of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said Johnson also experienced discrimination as among the campaign’s few female and African-American members of staff. She earned not as much as her colleagues and experienced “a greater culture of racist and sexist behavior,” the lawsuit said.