The Washington Post reports that Alva Johnson, a former staffer from the Trump campaign, is suing President Trump for kissing her without consent in August 2016, stating that his actions have caused her “emotional distress, psychological trauma, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of dignity, invasion of privacy and other damages”.
The lawsuit alleges that on August 24, 2016, after a campaign rally in Tampa, then-candidate Trump, grabbed Johnson’s hand and “moved close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin”. Upon realizing that Trump, her boss, was trying to kiss her, she turned her head to the right and his kiss landed on the side of her mouth. The lawsuit states that the kiss was intentional given that Johnson was wearing a baseball cap with the bill facing forward.
Alva Johnson says she told her mother, her boyfriend, and her stepfather about the experience later that day and they confirmed her account of events to the Washington Post.
Johnson states that the incident took place in front of campaign officials, including then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who smiled at Johnson after it happened. Johnson says she feared she would not be taken seriously as a colleague after the “inappropriate” behavior of her boss.
Bondi denies witnessing Donald Trump kissing Johnson and smiling at Alva about it, saying, “Do I recall seeing anything inappropriate? One hundred percent no. I’m a prosecutor, and if I saw something inappropriate, I would have said something.”
Johnson contacted a lawyer in October about the incident, after the Access Hollywood tape came out a month and a half later on October 7. On that tape, Donald Trump was recorded saying, “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Johnson says that conversation described exactly what he did to her and realized this was a pattern of predatory behavior. Her therapist’s notes, reviewed by the Post, refer Johnson having nightmares because of what happened. She quit working for the campaign about three weeks before the election and states that she feared public backlash if she were to make her allegations public. The Post points out that she did, however, apply for jobs in the Trump administration and attended one of the inaugural balls. She says she felt she had earned the job opportunities after serving successfully on the campaign.
The lawsuit, on page 19, cites a 2006 interview where Trump admits to Howard Stern that he is a sexual predator. The numerous women who have also accused President Trump of sexual assault, either forcibly kissing them or groping them, after the Access Hollywood tape was released are also listed in detail in the suit.
Alva Johnson, who is black, also accuses the Trump campaign of underpaying her compared to her white and male colleagues working for the campaign. The lawsuit states that she seeks to “bring this case as a collective action on behalf of female Campaign employees who suffered unlawful pay discrimination at the hands of Defendant Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.” Kayleigh McEnany, a campaign spokeswoman, says Johnson’s claim is “off-base and unfounded.”
Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, responded saying that the accusation of Johnson being forcibly kissed is “absurd on its face”. She continued, “This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts.”
