Former campaign staffer sues Trump for unwanted kiss

A former campaign staffer filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his campaign on Monday, claiming he forcibly kissed her in August 2016 and his campaign discriminated against her. In the lawsuit, Alva Johnson said that Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her while exiting a recreational vehicle outside a campaign rally in Tampa, Fla. She said she turned her head to the side to avoid the contact, but the kiss landed on the side of her mouth. Johnson, an African-American, also alleges that the campaign paid her less than white male employees.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the accusation “absurd on its face” and denied it happened. Alleged eyewitnesses, a campaign official, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi—who Johnson said was on the RV—denied seeing the kiss. Johnson told her boyfriend, mother, and stepfather about the alleged incident the day it occurred. When a recording surfaced in October 2016 of Trump saying he often spontaneously kissed women, Johnson believed what happened to her was part of a pattern. She quit the campaign just weeks before the election.

Hassan Zavareei, Johnson’s lawyer, said Johnson was barred from saying anything because of a nondisclosure agreement. Zavareei told The New Yorker he expects Trump to “try to use the unconscionable NDA and forced arbitration agreement to silence Ms. Johnson. We will fight this strong-arm tactic.” Johnson is the only woman to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct during the campaign, though others have accused him of forcibly kissing and groping them before that.