WASHINGTON — Denying he sexually harassed anyone, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Monday he was falsely accused in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association, and he branded revelation of the allegations a “witch hunt.”
The former pizza company executive was responding to a Politico report that said the trade group gave financial settlements to at least two employees who had accused Cain of inappropriate sexual behavior. He said he had no knowledge of whether the association provided any such settlements, and he declined to address specifics of the accusations or the resolution.
“There’s nothing else there to dig up,” he declared at the National Press Club. “We have no idea the source of this witch hunt, which is really what it is.”
He added, “This bulls-eye on my back has gotten bigger.”
Cain said an investigation into accusations of impropriety while he was the head of the restaurant group determined they were baseless.
“I’ve never sexually harassed anyone,” he told Fox News.
Earlier in the day, Cain acknowledged, “I do have a sense of humor and some people have a problem with that.” And by the afternoon, he was joking: “As a result of today’s big news story, I really know what it feels like to be No. 1.”
The trade association refused to comment on the allegations.
“The incidents in question relate to personnel matters that allegedly took place nearly fifteen years ago. Consistent with our longstanding policy, we don’t comment on personnel issues relating to current or former employees,” National Restaurant Association spokesman Sue Hensley said in a statement.
The allegations came to light Sunday night when Politico reported that at least two women who complained about sexually inappropriate behavior while working for Cain had signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them five-figure financial payouts to leave the association and barred them from discussing their departures. Neither woman was identified.
The report was based on anonymous sources and, in one case, what the publication said was a review of documentation that described the allegations and the resolution. Politico said spokesman J.D. Gordon told their publication that Cain himself had indicated to campaign officials that he was “vaguely familiar” with the charges and that the restaurant association’s general counsel had resolved the matter.
But Cain, himself, refused to comment to Politico when asked specifically about one of the woman’s claims. And when asked if he had ever been accused of harassment by a woman, the publication said Cain responded by asking the reporter, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”
In a statement late Sunday to The Associated Press, Gordon told the AP that the Politico report was not true — and blamed the media.
At a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, he refused to answer questions about the allegations but said he would further discuss them later in the day while appearing at the National Press Club.
Still, as he was leaving the stage, he stopped, turned to the crowd and talked about his sense of humor without providing any context. He said his staff tells him to be himself — or “Let Herman be Herman.”
He added: “Herman is going to stay Herman.”