Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff did not explicitly deny allegations — made to the Daily Mail by several unnamed sources — that he once slapped an ex-girlfriend and also hired a "trophy secretary" at his Los Angeles law firm.
Emhoff called the tabloid stories "a distraction" when responding to a question during a Friday interview with "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. The allegations could not be independently verified by Fox News Digital.
"We don’t have time to be pissed off. We don't have time to focus on it. It's designed to try to get us off our game," Emhoff said, before pivoting to a warning about a potential second term for former President Trump. "We understand the stakes. We understand the responsibility. We understand what is necessary. Our very country. Our future."
Trump recently told the Daily Wire that if he were subject to the same allegations as Emhoff, it would be "the greatest story in the last five years" in the media.
Earlier this month, an unnamed representative for Emhoff told Semafor the report that he slapped a former girlfriend during a 2012 trip to the Cannes Film Festival is "untrue."
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"Any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false," the representative said.
The Daily Mail's exclusive story at the time quoted three unidentified sources who claim Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend while the couple waited in a valet line following an event in Nice, France, in 2012. The alleged altercation was purportedly sparked when the woman — identified only by the pseudonym "Jane," and described as a successful New York attorney — flirted with a valet, according to the article.
The Harris campaign, the Office of the Vice President and a representative for Emhoff's ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, did not comment despite repeated requests from Fox News.
Several media outlets, including Semafor, noted they had been unable to match the Daily Mail's reporting, and legacy media companies such as The New York Times have yet to report on the claims.
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The Daily Mail's article hinged on the recollections of three people described as being friends of "Jane." The outlet said its sources requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from Emhoff. The three friends reportedly provided the outlet with a photo of the pair when they were still a couple, as well as itineraries and correspondence between Emhoff and "Jane" to substantiate that they made the trip to France in May 2012.
One of the sources is described by the Daily Mail as a female New York attorney who learned about the alleged incident from "Jane."
"He hauled up and slapped her so hard she spun around," the source is quoted as saying. "She said she was in utter shock. She was so furious, she slapped him on one side, and then on the other cheek with the other hand."
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
