The aide, who was working for Herschel Walker’s campaign for Senate in Georgia, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed anonymously. A lawyer for Mr. Schlapp denied the accusations.
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Matt Schlapp is the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Matt Schlapp, the head of one of the nation’s largest conservative advocacy groups and an adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, was accused in a lawsuit on Tuesday of groping an employee on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in October.
A lawyer for Mr. Schlapp, Charlie Spies, denied the allegations, saying in a statement: “The Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual. No family should ever go through this and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options.”
The lawsuit, filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria, accuses Mr. Schlapp of “aggressively fondling” the man’s “genital area in a sustained fashion” while the two were alone in a car.
The staff member filed the suit anonymously, citing privacy concerns and a fear of retaliation given Mr. Schlapp’s influential position as chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference.
The staff member, a longtime political aide in his late 30s, detailed his allegations to The New York Times on the condition that he not be identified. The accusations were first reported this month by The Daily Beast.
The lawsuit also accuses Mr. Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, who served as Mr. Trump’s White House director of strategic communications, of defamation and conspiracy, claiming that they coordinated a campaign to discredit the Walker aide and his allegations.
Timothy Hyland, a lawyer for the accuser, said in a statement that the lawsuit, which asks for at least $9.4 million in damages, had been filed in part because Mr. Schlapp had not apologized for “his despicable actions.”
“Because Mr. Schlapp has refused to own up to his misbehavior,” Mr. Hyland said in a statement, “this suit aims to make Mr. Schlapp, and those who lie for him, accountable for their actions and statements.”
In his statement on Tuesday, Mr. Spies, who is also representing Ms. Schlapp, accused the Walker aide of “working in concert with Daily Beast to attack and harm the Schlapp family.”
Mr. Schlapp, 55, a former aide in the George W. Bush White House, rose to prominence as an ardent public defender of Mr. Trump. He met Ms. Schlapp, 50, when both worked in the Bush administration. They married, had five daughters and, during Mr. Trump’s tenure, became one of Washington’s most prominent conservative couples.
The lawsuit accuses Mr. Schlapp of defamation by pointing to Mr. Spies’s initial statement that described the accusations as false, personal attacks.
The lawsuit argues that Ms. Schlapp defamed the Walker staff member by telling neighbors that he was a “troubled individual” who had been fired from previous jobs for lying and for making false statements on his résumé. The message was shared on a group text with neighbors, the plaintiff said.
The lawsuit says that the plaintiff had not been fired from a job for lying or for lying on his résumé.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was assigned to drive Mr. Schlapp to a Walker campaign event on Oct. 19 in Perry, Ga.
That evening, after returning to Atlanta, Mr. Schlapp invited the staff member for a drink.
The two men met at the Capital Grille, where they chatted about sports, and then drove to a second bar, Manuel’s Tavern, about 25 minutes away, the lawsuit says. At the second bar, Mr. Schlapp sat “unusually close” to the staff member, according to the lawsuit, which claims that his leg “was in almost constant contact” with the aide’s leg.
Mr. Schlapp encouraged the staff member to have more drinks, which made the staff member uncomfortable, the lawsuit says. The staff member turned away from Mr. Schlapp to watch a baseball game on television in the bar, and Mr. Schlapp asked why the aide would not look at him, according to the lawsuit.
The staff member said they had an early event the next morning, and offered to drive Mr. Schlapp back to the hotel, the lawsuit says.
On the way home, Mr. Schlapp allegedly grabbed the staff member’s leg and crotch inside a car while the staff member drove to Mr. Schlapp’s hotel, according to the lawsuit.
The episode left the plaintiff “frozen with shock, mortification, and fear from what was happening, particularly given Mr. Schlapp’s power and status in conservative political circles,” according to the lawsuit.
After returning home, the staff member spoke to friends about the episode and made personal video recordings about what had happened, according to the lawsuit.
He informed campaign officials about the encounter the next morning, and the campaign barred Mr. Schlapp from future Walker events, according to three other people associated with the campaign who were involved in those discussions and spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.
The campaign officials told The Times that they had advised the aide to text Mr. Schlapp that he was uncomfortable with what had happened the previous night. The aide also provided Mr. Schlapp with the name and number of another driver, according to the lawsuit.
Mr. Schlapp then called the aide, who did not answer, according to documents viewed by The Times. A few hours later, Mr. Schlapp texted the aide, wishing him good luck on the campaign.
“If you could see it in your heart to call me at end of day,” Mr. Schlapp texted, “I would appreciate it.”
The allegations became public in the Daily Beast article published on Jan. 5 as the American Conservative Union opened several days of meetings and fund-raisers in South Florida, including an event at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Palm Beach resort.
Mr. Schlapp and Mr. Trump attended the gala, where the former president delivered remarks.
Charlie Gerow and Carolyn Meadows, vice chairs of the American Conservative Union and members of the group’s board of directors, said in a statement after the allegations were first published that they “stand squarely behind Matt Schlapp” and expressed “full confidence in his leadership of the organization.”
“We know Matt Schlapp’s heart and his character,” they said. “And we believe this latest attempt at character assassination is false.”
Source: nytimes.com
