Kamala Harris’ past comments on sexual assault and domestic abusers have resurfaced online following allegations that her husband Doug Emhoff assaulted an ex-girlfriend over a decade ago.
Emhoff, 59, the Second Gentleman of the United States, was accused in a bombshell report from DailyMail.com of ‘hitting’ an ex-girlfriend in the face after believing she was flirting with a valet at a charity event in 2012.
Soon after the shocking allegations were exposed, critics of Harris leapt on her past condemnations of domestic abuse and violence against women.
This included Harris calling on officials to ‘take crimes against women more seriously’, and just last month boasting how she has ‘spent my entire career fighting for the health, safety, and wellbeing of women.’
Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff is accused of violently striking his former girlfriend for allegedly flirting with another man during a booze-fueled altercation in 2012
Harris’ past remarks quickly came back to haunt her, as critics reposted her old tweets on women’s safety as they remarked how they ‘aged like milk.’
In one episode that has resurfaced, vice president notably took a leading role in the fight to block Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2018, and frequently shared her support for Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
This saw her share an image of her wearing all black a week before Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote ‘in support of all survivors of sexual assault or abuse – we won’t let them be silenced or ignored.’
Others brought up the vice president’s repeat calls to ‘believe women’ when they come forward with allegations – with one citing DailyMail.com’s report as they responded to one of her posts: ‘Except Doug Emhoff’s first wife.’
The post was not referencing the new allegations regarding Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend, but rather the second gentleman’s first marriage that ended in divorce after he allegedly impregnated his two children’s nanny.
Emhoff admitted the affair with the nanny and teacher, Najen Naylor, after DailyMail.com published the story last month.
The shocking allegations are a striking contrast to Emhoff’s benevolent image promoted by the Harris campaign and his media interviews portraying himself as an ally to women
DailyMail.com previously broke the news that Emhoff’s first marriage to wife Kerstin Emhoff (right) ended when he got his children’s nanny, Najen Naylor (left), pregnant
When DailyMail.com approached Naylor she would not comment about her relationship with Emhoff or the baby. ‘I’m kind of freaked out right now,’ she said
The three friends of Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend who claimed she told them he ‘hit’ her at a charity event also said she had told them about a disturbing alleged incident during her relationship with the Second Gentleman, in which Emhoff nonchalantly admitted to impregnating Naylor.
Emhoff told his girlfriend that the nanny accused him of causing her to have a miscarriage, the friends claimed.
According to the friends, Emhoff did not say how he was allegedly responsible for the miscarriage, and he told her that the nanny’s claims were false.
But the Second Gentleman allegedly confessed to his ex that he paid Naylor a settlement of around $80,000, and had the nanny sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
The fresh allegations, made by the same three friends, claimed that Emhoff struck an ex-girlfriend in the face while waiting in a valet line after a May 2012 Canned Film Festival event in France.
They claimed it came at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Gala Dinner, an elite charity auction filled with top celebrities and Hollywood executives, held on May 24, 2012, at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes, near Cannes in Southern France.
Attendees that year included model Cara Delevingne, actors Antonio Banderas and Alec Baldwin, designer Karl Lagerfeld, singer Kylie Minogue, actress Kirsten Dunst, socialite Paris Hilton, and top amfAR supporter, now-disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Emhoff is pictured with the ex-girlfriend, whose identity is being protected by DailyMail.com
The incident allegedly unfolded at the 2012 Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Gala Dinner, with attendees including Kim Kardashian, Heidi Klum and other A-list stars
The elite charity auction was held at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in Antibes, southern France
The friends said Emhoff’s girlfriend at the time – whose identity is not being revealed by DailyMail.com – invited the future second gentleman as her plus one.
One of her friends, a top New York businessman, said he was at home getting ready for bed that night when he got an unexpected phone call from her.
‘It was hard to hear her because she was sobbing,’ he said. ‘She told me she was with a guy and he hit her.
‘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.
‘I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know whether to call the French police. I couldn’t get a hold of her after calling back.’
He said he still had a ‘vivid’ memory of the troubling conversation from 12 years ago.
‘In later conversations, but pretty contemporaneous with that, she told me more about the guy,’ he added.
‘It was something like 3am. They were trying to get out of there and they both had been drinking. There was a gigantic line for taxis.
‘[She] went up to one of the valet guys, offered him 100 Euros or whatever, to get to the head of the line. She told me she put her hand on his shoulder. Doug apparently thought that she was flirting, and came over and slapped her in the face.
The Second Gentlemen has been seen faithfully standing by Harris’s side throughout her campaign and promoting her ‘bada**’ brand
‘She slapped him back.
‘My impression is that he had a lot to drink. She was sobbing [on the phone afterwards], but she wasn’t slurring her words.
‘She told me that she broke up with him that night.’
A second friend, another female New York attorney, said was told about alleged attack at the time – and said it came out of nowhere.
‘They had dinner. She said Doug was very charming, and it was lovely. Then I believe it was between 2-3am, it was still raging, but she was wearing four-inch heels and a floor-length gown, so it was time to depart,’ the lawyer said.
‘She said there’d been no fight before he hit her. You would have thought it was this fairytale trip.
‘She put her hand on the valet’s shoulder, and as she was talking to him, Doug comes up.
‘She said he turned her around by her right shoulder, and she was completely caught off guard. He hauled up and slapped her so hard she spun around. 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.’
The three friends said that as she tried to leave following the alleged assault, Emhoff forced his way into the cab with her.
‘All of a sudden the car was there and they were ushering her into the car,’ the attorney friend said.
‘She said she wanted to go back to the hotel without him. But while she was shutting the door, he forced himself into the car, which she did not want.
‘I think she asked him ‘what the f*** was that all about?’ in the car, and the only thing she could really get out of him was that he thought she was hitting on the valet.
‘[She] told me she was so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe he is the person that he is, and that it turned into this trailer trash moment.
‘It woke her up about the self-delusion she was having, explaining away the teacher story. She realized he was bad news. This was the first time she saw his ugly side.
‘She said she called [her male businessman friend] because she wanted Doug to see her on the phone, telling somebody. She felt that would afford her some protection.’
Emhoff recently sat down for a fawning interview with Jen Psaki during which the former White House Press Secretary told the Second Gentleman that he had ‘reshaped the perception of masculinity’
The third friend, a female top company executive, said she was also told the story in 2018, and said that Emhoff was unapologetic about the alleged abuse the next day.
‘When he hit her she hit him back, like, ‘Don’t you ever do that again,’ she said.
‘I asked her if he ever apologized. She said no, but he commented about the hit she gave him. It was a tennis metaphor. But no apology at all.’
‘He was a tennis fan,’ said the female attorney. ‘All he said to her was, ‘Don’t worry about it, you got one across the court and down the line.’
The executive said she believed Emhoff meant that ‘now they were even’.
‘She said it was hurtful at the time,’ the attorney said. ‘But she said she didn’t want to feel like a victim.’
The friends said Emhoff ended the trip early to return to LA for his daughter Ella’s 13th birthday on May 29, and that he and the woman never saw each other again.
The allegations come after Emhoff was previously dubbed by Democrats as a ‘wife guy’ and a ‘mensch’, a Yiddish term for an honorable, kind man. He has also spoken out in media interviews about being an ally to women and against toxic masculinity.
In a fawning interview on Sunday, MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Emhoff that he ‘reshaped the perception of masculinity’ – despite his admitted affair with his daughter’s nanny and teacher.
‘I’ve always been like this,’ Emhoff said to Psaki. ‘To me, it’s the right thing to do, support women.’
These allegations strike to the heart of his benevolent image, promoted by the Harris presidential campaign.
