Herman Cain: Sexual harassment charges ‘totally false’ (VIDEO)
Republican presidential candidate and former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive Herman Cain has denied allegations of sexual harassment. Here he participates in a discussion about his 9-9-9 tax plan at the American Enterprise Institute Oct. 31, 2011, in Washington, D.C.
Herman Cain said he was “falsely accused” of sexual harassment by two women in the mid-1990s during his tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association, USA Today reports.
Cain also added he was not aware of any financial settlement between the association and the accusers.
"I have never sexual harassed anyone, and yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association," Cain said in an interview with Fox News. "I say falsely because it turned out, after the investigation, to be baseless."
His remarks at Fox were the first time he directly responded to the allegations of “sexually suggestive behavior” toward two women while leading the trade group in the 1990s. He has spent most of the day responding to questions from reporters from other news organizations.
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At an appearance at the National Press Club after the Fox News interview, the GOP presidential hopeful said he was the target of a "witch hunt," according to USA Today.
"I told you there was a bull's eye on my back." he said to the room of reporters
His chief of staff, Mark Block, said on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown, “Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody. Period. End of story.”
The initial report from Politico also stated that the accusers had received financial payments from the restaurant trade group and that the association barred them from talking about the particulars of their departures, according to MSNBC.
"If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I wasn't even aware of it, and I hope it wasn't for much because nothing happened," Cain said. "So if there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers that worked for me at the association."
Meanwhile, Cain also defended his recent campaign ad, which showed his chief of staff smoking a cigarette. He told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the ad was not intended to promote smoking.
"We weren't trying to say it's cool to smoke," he said. "You have a lot of people in this country that smoke. But what I respect about Mark as a smoker, who is my chief of staff, he never smokes around me or smokes around anyone else. He goes outside."
Cain is currently sitting atop the field of GOP presidential hopefuls, with the latest CBS/NY Times poll showing Cain leading the pack with 25 percent of the vote. Romney took second place in that poll with 21 percent.
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