Former Campaign Staffer Hits Trump With Lawsuit, Alleging Unwanted Kiss

Well, here’s one to watch.

I’m going to go ahead and say up front that I’m skeptical, but given what we already know about President Trump and his “proclivities,” this wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility.

A former Trump campaign staffer from the 2016 election has emerged to claim that then-candidate Trump took her hand and attempted to kiss her, without her permission, at a Florida campaign stop.

The staffer in question, Alva Johnson, has given her story to The Washington Post, and says that before a Tampa, Florida rally, on August 26, 2016 Donald Trump stepped out of an RV and moved in for a kiss.

“He’s coming straight for my lips. So I turn my head, and he kisses me right on corner of my mouth, still holding my hand the entire time,” Johnson told the Post. “Then he walks on out.”

Johnson added that she told her family and boyfriend about the attempted kiss by Trump the day it took place and months later sought advice from a Florida attorney about how to handle the incident.

“I immediately felt violated because I wasn’t expecting it or wanting it,” Johnson said. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face.”

Johnson joined with Trump’s team in early 2016 and was the director for outreach and coalitions in Alabama.

According to the report, Johnson was with other staffers and supporters before the rally, and had approached Trump to tell him of all the work she was doing for him and that she was in his corner.

So were there witnesses?

Johnson says there were.

One of those witnesses was the Florida campaign director, Karen Giorno. The other was Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

They’re not exactly in Johnson’s corner on this.

“Do I recall seeing anything inappropriate? One hundred percent no,” Bondi told the Post in an interview. “I’m a prosecutor, and if I saw something inappropriate, I would have said something.”

Well, to be fair, Bondi’s ethics are suspect, at best.

She’s the same attorney general that decided against standing up for the victims of Trump’s fraudulent business school, Trump University, after receiving a hefty campaign contribution from him.

Coincidence, I’m sure.

As for Giorno, she was equally unhelpful to Johnson’s case. In Giorno’s words, the kiss “absolutely did not happen.”

Johnson has brought a lawsuit based on her claims.

In an answer to the news of the lawsuit, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, of course, went into immediate denial.

“This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts,” she wrote.

Well, two, and Bondi just isn’t that credible.

Johnson filed the lawsuit on Monday in Florida, claiming emotional pain and suffering. She also claims discrimination, saying that men were paid more than she was.

In a video posted to the YouTube channel for The Washington Post, Johnson says that when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape of Trump claiming he would kiss and fondle women without their permission went public, she immediately thought to herself, “That’s what he did to me!”

There are a lot of reasons I’m skeptical, not the least of which is the question as to if she continued to work for his campaign after that.

Also, why wait over two years before bringing a lawsuit or to see anything done about it?

She might be completely on the up-and-up, and we all know Trump is capable of being exactly what she says.

To that point, let’s not forget that over 20 women came forward after the “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced, to tell of their encounters with Trump.

Unwanted groping, kissing, voyeurism – those were all on the menu. Alva Johnson is simply the latest to come forward.

So let’s just watch this one. It may grow legs and run, but without witnesses to back her up, it’s He said/She said.