Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, allegedly assaulted his then-girlfriend during a trip to France over a decade ago, according to a bombshell report by the Daily Mail.
Mr. Emhoff, 59, allegedly smacked the woman in the face while waiting in a valet line after a May 2012 event at the Cannes Film Festival, three friends of hers told the outlet. Her friends said the blow had so much force that she spun around.
The Washington Times reached out to the vice president’s spokesperson for comment.
A friend of the woman said that she called him immediately following the incident, crying in the taxi, and described the alleged assault that had taken place after the couple attended a charity gala at Hotel Du Cap in the south of France.
The ex-girlfriend, a New York attorney whom the Daily Mail referred to by the pseudonym “Jane,” provided travel documents to prove she and Mr. Emhoff spent time together at the location during the alleged incident. She also provided a photo of herself with Mr. Emhoff, in which the outlet blurred out her face.
Another friend said Jane, who had been seeing Mr. Emhoff for three months, also told her about the alleged incident at the time.
A third friend told The Daily Mail that Jane recounted the alleged violence to her six years later when then-Sen. Kamala Harris grilled Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a Senate confirmation hearing related to sexual assault allegations against him.
According to one of Jane’s friends, Mr. Emhoff allegedly became angry with Jane during the incident in 2012 because he thought she was hitting on the valet.
One of Jane’s friends, a New York business executive, said Jane phoned him immediately after the alleged incident in France.
“It was hard to hear her because she was sobbing,” he told The Daily Mail. “She told me she was with a guy and he hit her.”
He added, “It was very clear what she was telling me. She said she was with a guy, her date, she was at the Cannes Film Festival, and he hit her. She was in the car with the guy at the time.”
Jane’s third friend, a female executive, said the alleged abuse ended the relationship immediately.
“I don’t know if it was an aggressive slap or a punch, but it was something that I know she would never forget, and something that would end a relationship immediately,” she said.
The executive said Jane told her that Mr. Emhoff didn’t apologize for the alleged incident.
“When he hit her she hit him back, like, ’Don’t you ever do that again,’” she said.
The claims about the violence come just one month after the outlet reported Mr. Emhoff had cheated on his first wife and mother of his two children 16 years ago with the family nanny, who was also his children’s grade school teacher, Najen Naylor.
Mr. Emhoff has conceded to having an affair during his previous marriage.
According to The Daily Mail, all three of Jane’s friends said she also told them about an alleged time during her three-month relationship with Mr. Emhoff when he admitted to impregnating Ms. Naylor.
According to their account, Mr. Emhoff told Jane that the nanny accused him of causing her to have a miscarriage.
However, he purportedly confessed to Jane that he paid his former nanny a settlement of about $80,000 and had her sign a non-disclosure agreement.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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