GLORIA ALLRED PRESS CONFERENCE WITH NEW HERMAN CAIN ACCUSER UPDATE: VIDEO, HEADLINES ADDED UPDATE II: CAIN CAMPAIGN: ‘ALL ALLEGATIONS … COMPLETELY FALSE’

Posted on | November 7, 2011 | 140 Comments

UPDATE 3:18 p.m. ET: Video via Nice Deb:

A quick sample of headlines:

Woman: Herman Cain put hand up my skirt
— USA Today

Herman Cain and Sharon Bialek: How it came about
— Washington Post

Cain accuser says candidate groped her in 1997
— CNN

UPDATE 3:35 p.m. ET: The Anchoress speaks:

The MSM will do its “penance” for ignoring Juanita Brodderick by conferring absolute moral authority upon Sharon Bialek, who (again, if its all true, and we really will never know) has had the good luck of experiencing such a sickening encounter at the hands of a Republican candidate for president, and not a Democrat. She will be believed, at least, and she will not be trashed. And for her sake and her son’s I’m glad of that.

Will conservatives passively accept the power of the media (and Gloria Allred) to choose the GOP’s presidential candidate? Will there be no pushback from conservatives against this?

This presumption would seem to ignore the possibility that Cain’s supporters might react by saying, “To hell with this! We don’t give a damn what happened in 1997! We’re tired of these kinds of sleazy games and we’re sticking with Herman Cain!”

UPDATE 3:53 p.m. ET: Press release from Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon:

Just as the country finally begins to refocus on our crippling $15 trillion national debt and the unacceptably high unemployment rate, now activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain.
All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone. Fortunately the American people will not allow Mr. Cain’s bold “9-9-9 Plan”, clear foreign policy vision and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks.

UPDATE 4:10 p.m. ET: Michelle Malkin seems skeptical of the accuser:

She didn’t report the incident because she was “embarrassed.”
Bialek saw Cain at a Tea Party event last month and asked “Do you remember me?”
“I really didn’t want to be here today.”
At end of her statement, she giggled. She talked about her new hairdo.
Allred confirms that Bialek did not notify NRA about the incident. Bialek smiled. Won’t comment when asked about the “emotional trauma” of the incident.
So Bialek is single with a teenage child, with no discernible means of income, and employing a top Democrat hit woman celebrity attorney and her employment law partner.

Over the weekend at the AFP conference, several people told me that they had reason to believe this story was coming from Chicago. IYKWIMAITYD. And while this kind of suspicion has nothing to do with the truth or falsehood of the accusation, it is certainly interesting. While I have always suspected Team Perry of pushing the story, the idea that Team Obama might be responsible cannot be ruled out.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m. ET: Cornell University Law Professor William Jacobson:

Summary of press conference: Woman alleges that in 1997 after her employment terminated with a National Restaurant Association affiliate, Cain made a single sexual advance at her which she rebuffed and which he stopped after she said no. So the allegation is not one of workplace “sexual harassment” but of an alleged attempt at infidelity.
A variety of people on Twitter are characterizing this as a “serious sexual assualt,” but that is farfetched. Assuming what she says is true, he stopped when she said to stop and she did not allege any actual sexual touching, only an attempt. She says she mentioned to two people at the time that Cain was sexually inappropriate, but did not mention to details to them.

Allahpundit points out that the lawyer for another accuser has claimed Bialek’s account as corroboration:

In an interview after Ms. Bialek’s news conference, Joel P. Bennett, a lawyer for one of Mr. Cain’s anonymous accusers, said that Ms. Bialek’s claims were “very similar” in nature to the incident that occurred between his client and Mr. Cain…
“It corroborates the claim,” Mr. Bennett said of Ms. Bialek’s allegation. Asked whether that meant that Mr. Cain had physically touched his client inappropriately, Mr. Bennett said “I can’t get more specific” but added that “I can say it is corroborating.”

EXPECT FURTHER UPDATES . . .

UPDATE 2:38 p.m. ET: The press conference is over and so we now must think about what we’ve just heard.

Did Sharon Bialek’s account of events seem plausible? Yes.

If you had 14 years to develop a narrative of an event that happened in 1997, would your account of that event be plausible? Also, yes.

We have here the basic “he-said, she-said” problem involved in such cases. What Bialek says happened would be very bad if it actually happened as she describes it. But there were no witnesses, there is no evidence, and the affidavits of two people to whom Bialek told her story in 1997 are inadmissable as hearsay. You could not convict Herman Cain in court based on such evidence, and yet the behavior described, if it is not criminal, certainly does fit within the category of “sexual harassment.” However . . .

There is no need to minimize the seriousness of sexual harassment in order to understand the difficulties that arise from trying to reach the hurdle of “beyond a reasonable doubt” involving private behavior where witnesses and evidence are lacking, and where the rights of the accused are derided as irrelevant. Liberals who hold candlelight vigils for condemned cop-killers will, without any sense of irony, insist that whenever a man is accused of sexual misconduct by a woman, the man must automatically be presumed guilty.

Well, it is not for me to decide how people react to this accusation, and so I will cease to offer my own reaction, except to say: Why wait 14 years? Oh. That’s right: The accused is leading the GOP field for president.

So if you make a pass at a woman, and are rejected, you can kiss good-bye whatever plans you had for becoming president — as a Republican.

I’ll be back to aggregate the headlines and blog reaction.

UPDATE 2:08 p.m. ET: Cain allegedly fondled her leg and tried to kiss her while they were alone in a car, Bialek says. When she said stop, he did. And so your headline is:

DISGRUNTLED FORMER EMPLOYEE SAYS
HERMAN CAIN MADE A PASS AT HER

UPDATE 2:01 p.m. ET: Bialek “reached out” to Cain after being terminated from her job. He met her at the Capitol Hilton in July 1997, where he had arranged for her to have the presidential suite. Bialek and Cain met at the lobby bar, then went to dinner at an Italian restaurant.

UPDATE 1:57 p.m. ET: The accuser is Sharon Bialek.

UPDATE 1:40 p.m. ET: Either the press conference is late in beginning or else the cable news networks aren’t carrying it live. Will update as soon as facts are available.

* * * PREVIOUSLY 1:15 p.m. ET * * *

Gloria Allred will hold a 1:30 p.m. press conference at the Friars Club in New York. I’ll blog updates live. Greta Van Susteren has the press release:

Herman Cain and Sexual Harassment
New Woman Who Alleges Sexual Harassment By Cain
To Hold News Conference With Her Attorney Gloria Allred.

A woman who alleges that she was sexually harassed by Presidential hopeful, Herman Cain, when she sought his help with an employment issue when he was President of the National Restaurant Association will hold a news conference with her Attorney, Gloria Allred on Monday, November 7th, at 1:30 p.m. (e.s.t.) at the Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street New York, NY 10022.
The woman is not one of the three women who have previously been reported to have alleged sexual harassment by Cain.
Ms. Allred’s client will be the first to give her name and to speak out about details of what she alleges occurred between her and Cain.
Note: Credentialed Press Only – Cameras may begin to set up at 12:30 p.m. at the Friars Club.
Note: There will be no interviews or questions answered before the news conference.

My personal feeling is that this is the best thing that can happen to Herman Cain in this situation. He cannot refute vague accusations, and the credibility of his accusers cannot be assessed so long as the accusers remain anonymous. So for a woman to come forward, under her own name, and make her accusations under the glare of the Klieg lights — this is good news if Cain is innocent, as he has insisted. More headlines:

New Cain accuser to discuss sexual harassment claims
— The Hill

Herman Cain sexual harassment accuser will
break silence at Gloria Allred press conference
— NY Daily News

Lawyer: 4th Cain accuser will speak publicly Monday
— Washington Post

Because I was out running “honey-do” errands this morning, I missed the initial announcement. Smitty posted the first alert and then called to tell me about it. Smitty’s “zombie/brains” metaphor is clever.

Perhaps at some future flesh-time meeting, Smitty and I can have a discussion about the factors involved in deciding whether a breaking news development should be headlined with clever metaphors, puns, allusions, etc. At any rate — spilled milk, water under the bridge, hindsight 20/20 — our cleverness quota having already been amply fulfilled on this story, I decided to go with the Joe Friday just-the-facts-ma’am headline on this follow-up, which will be the live-blog report.

Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Scandal

Comments

140 Responses to “GLORIA ALLRED PRESS CONFERENCE WITH NEW HERMAN CAIN ACCUSER UPDATE: VIDEO, HEADLINES ADDED UPDATE II: CAIN CAMPAIGN: ‘ALL ALLEGATIONS … COMPLETELY FALSE’”

Dan Collins
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:11 pm

So, I imagine there’s a record of her stay in the Presidential Suite. But by 1997, it’s not as though anyone of her generation wasn’t using email. You’d think there might be some record of those communications loaded down to some hard drive somewhere, or printed off for future reference.

I’m also thinking that if she’s active in the TEA Party, there’s some record of her online activity on websites, and folks from within the movement who will vouch for her authenticity.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:17 pm

Got any evidence that she’s a Tea Party Republican? My representative claims to be a Tea Party Republican, I doubt she can even spell Tea Party.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:18 pm

I’d say Cain needs to be suing this woman stat,
if it’s all BS why wouldn’t he?
Finrod Felagund
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:20 pm

I don’t really see this accusation changing minds on either side.

Any Tea Partier worth their salt wouldn’t be caught dead with Gloria Allred, IMHO.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:23 pm

It’s not a lack of caring, it’s a lack of believing.
Red
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:24 pm

A quote from the comments of another blog posting about this story: “Just wondering where this in-depth investigative journalism was
when John Edwards, media darling, was knocking up his publicist behind
his cancer-stricken wife’s back during the last presidential campaign.
As lousy a candidate as Cain is, we have to go back 15 years to an
alleged yet unreported incident. C’mon.”
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:25 pm

Your relationship to happiness (other than your own) is tenuous.
Video: Cain Accuser Sharon Bialek Speaks | The Lonely Conservative
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:29 pm

[…] the confrontation at the tea party rally she described. The allegations are 14 years old, and as Stacy pointed out, the affidavits from the individuals she said she told about the encounter at the time would […]
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:34 pm

If Gloria is going to play the role of a limo chasing whore, she needs to dress the part!
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:36 pm

If any of these allegations are true, Herman Cain is not going to be a viable candidate. So far, I have seen nothing to persuade me that any of this is true.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:36 pm

Given that the law is designed to be abused and to abuse, anything that discredits it is a positive.
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:36 pm

Anamika, did Chuckie send you back?
Anamika
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:39 pm

Happiness must be humble because it needs no credit for all of that voice.

At the library pond this afternoon, there were three snoozing mallards surrounded by a hundred long beaked white birds, some of which were fighting, or trying to fight by jumping at each other and pecking with those straw like beaks that couldn’t possibly hurt unless they got an eye. A few feet from the sleepy mallards and busy white birds, there was a little squirrel playing with something he’s found. He’d grab it and fall over and kick at it, then run a couple of feet in a tree and go back to get it, hopping around like he was mad. Maybe, he was rabid.
Adjoran
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:43 pm

But in Edwards’ case, it was true love, Reile love.

If that guy would risk his hair getting mussed up, it had to be for love.
steve benton
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:47 pm

I have to admit it – Herman sexually harassed me. When he reached for me, I pulled off the wig, and in my best Austin Powers voice, I said,” IT’S A MAN,BABY”. Wonder if Gloria will represent me?
ThePaganTemple
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:53 pm

I think they just put her back on outpatient status.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:54 pm

Joe,

Sadly, allegations don’t necessarily have to be true to make a candidate non-viable, especially at the primary and caucus stage.

Heck, they don’t necessarily have to even be credible, let alone proven, especially if the candidate and the campaign do a poor job of responding to them, as Cain and his campaign did.

There’s some — hopefully small, at least one would like to think — percentage of voters who, as soon as they heard the allegations, closed their minds to Cain. They may not be rational about it, but their votes count the same.

There’s some other percentage of voters who watched him and his campaign stumbling around, trickling stuff out a little at a time and grudgingly admitting to each little piece except this last one, instead of confronting the whole issue head-on and immediately, who decided he is amateur hour even if he is pure as the driven snow on the sexual harassment front.

There are almost certainly some Republican primary voters who were undecided, and may still be, who have crossed Cain off their list to even consider — whether they think he’s guilty or not, they think he’s damaged goods.

If there were any voters who were on the fence between Gingrich and Cain, inclining toward Cain because of Gingrich’s record of marital peccadilloes, well, Gingrich probably just pulled even with them.

All of that is true even if Cain never so much looked at a woman who isn’t his wife.

Is the damage irreparable? I’m guessing it probably is, but I could be wrong. If it is irreparable, I hope he’s guilty as hell of everything alleged and worse, because I’d hate to seen an innocent man going through this.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 4:56 pm

You need to lay off of Yoko Ono’s twitter feed.
Bob Belvedere
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:05 pm

Well-put, Richard.
Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » My problems with the new Cain accusations
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

[…] Datechguy | November 7th, 2011 I’ve already quoted Stacy McCain’s thoughts on the new accusations of this case, now let me add my […]
Herman Cain Sharon Bialek: Obligatory Genitals and Crotch Story Video | Maggie's Notebook
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:23 pm

[…] Robert Stacy McCain asks: Will conservatives passively accept the power of the media (and Gloria Allred) to choose the GOP’s presidential candidate? Will there be no pushback from conservatives against this? […]
ThePaganTemple
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:24 pm

Because he’s trying to devote his time to his campaign, maybe?
Christy Waters
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:31 pm

This story about the possible Rahm Emanuel connection to the Herman Cain scandal, surfaced earlier this week. Ms. Bialek is from Chicago. It’s very possible that Emanuel has absolutely nothing to do with this, but I couldn’t help but wonder.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/nov/2/picket-source-rham-emanuel-involved-cain-sexual-ha/
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:41 pm

Steve: Are you sure that wasn’t Stacy shaking his tip jar?
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:45 pm

There’s some other percentage of voters who watched him and his campaign stumbling around, trickling stuff out a little at a time and grudgingly admitting to each little piece except this last one, instead of confronting the whole issue head-on and immediately, who decided he is amateur hour even if he is pure as the driven snow on the sexual harassment front.

That would be the Dan Riehl, Allah, and Ace crowd? Of course they were all Perry men (still are) although they might go Romney-Newt going forward.
Bufordx79
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:46 pm

Oh yeah, Team Obama would destroy Cain while he is leading for the nomination and not afterwards. Give me a break. Cain is a weak candidate, there was a settlement to pay off women that accused him (that is a fact, not an accusation). They would be dancing if Cain won the nomination, and then they would bring this kind of heat. Are you insane??
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:46 pm

You serial sexual harassers, no wonder you like Herman Cain.
GayPatriot » A Cain Accuser talks
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:50 pm

[…] Defending Herman Cain, R.S. McCain makes some (very) valid points: We have here the basic “he-said, she-said” problem involved in such cases. What Bialek says […]
DaMav
November 7th, 2011 @ 5:59 pm

“To hell with this! We don’t give a damn what happened in 1997! We’re tired of these kinds of sleazy games and we’re sticking with Herman Cain!”
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

So you’re either a squirrel or a malady, got it.
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:13 pm

I blame this whole mess on the Penn State Football program.
It's Not A Real Scandal.....Until Gloria Allred Shows Up - The POH Diaries
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:13 pm

[…] not going to let it go. Suffice it to say that the fourth alleged “victim” to come forward has revealed herself with sordid details to boot. As Professor Jacobson points out, no matter […]
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:28 pm

Just because Rahm may not be guilty here is no indication of innocence, after all if he didn’t, you know he wishes he had.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:37 pm

Yeah, sure they will. I’m sure the Politico and all four major networks will get right on that.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:41 pm

Unfortunately, yes.
Mike Rogers
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:56 pm

No.
It’s a poke in the eye by All-Red to one of her victims.
This is the Lawyer who sued the Friars Club over its all-male membership requirements.
Quartermaster
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:57 pm

The Civil Standard is preponderance of evidence. So far there have been a lot of accusations, but no evidence I can see.

This is just more Demonrat, Chicago style smoke and mirrors. If they say it loud enough, long enough, it may stick. In the past, conservatives have gone along with that. Hopefully, this time, they won’t. Make them put up, or shut up.

But with Allread involved, it’s probably a hoax.
Mike Rogers
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:59 pm

I’m betting (literally at Intrade) heavily that:
1) Nothing Happened with Cain.
2) All-Red went to Bialek(Rhymes with Dalek?)*, not the other way around.
3) President Cain is highly probable.

At
the time of the alleged incident, the “victim” claims she told Cain
that she’d be happy to take a job at HQ instead of in Chicago, because
she was staying 2 hours from DC with boyfriends parents. AND YET, she
had to book a stay in the DC Hilton in order to have a short meeting
with Cain. Unless she’d given Cain lots of signals as to her intentions
on him, the story about the unexpected suite upgrade does not ring true.
Besides, if she had been on the road with the NRA for some time, she
may well have earned hotel privileges, which can include suite upgrades –
I’ve had my share of those.

At the time of the alleged incident,
Cain was already wealthy and well known, and the NRA also had deep
pockets – why not sue there and then?

For the last few years,
Cain has been on talk radio, and all over TV with Tea parties / AFP –
why not go public and puncture his hypocrisy sooner if you have
something real to tell us?

(Conclusion – no evidence)

Cain ran for senate a few years back – no Bimbo Eruptions then – why not? maybe because he wasn’t a real threat at that point?

All-Red
has a distinguished career of taking down rising Republicans, and most
recently hyped a non-event involving an illegal alien maid, obtained
through an agency which should have checked, into a take-down of the
best candidate for CA governor, Meg Whitman. If Gov ‘Moonbeam’ Brown
finally destroys the state, residents will know who to blame.
(Conclusion another baseless hatchet job)

*
Dalek – Evil, radiation poisoned alien, which cannot exist without its
rolling life support system. Scoots around yelling Ex-term-inate and
frying everything it encounters…….. But as far as I know, Daleks
have not met the Hermanator before – I’m placing my bets 🙂
Charles
November 7th, 2011 @ 6:59 pm

I’m waiting for the “You want a job right?” isn’t about employment defense.
DaveO
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:27 pm

Herman can always change his last name to “Clinton.”

It’s not like Progressives and Democrats have a leg to stand on when it comes to sex crimes.
andycanuck
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:28 pm

Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!
andycanuck
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:29 pm

So how come the MFM is trying to bring Cain down? Shouldn’t they be helping him if your hypothesis is correct?
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:43 pm

You are exactly right. If Herman Cain was actually some serial grouper…well he would deserve being grilled. But so far this looks like a set up. And a bad one at that.

What is depressing is not the attack from the left, but on how many conservatives let the media bus run back and forth over Herman Cain with out a peep. Sort of like those Chinese who left the 2 year old baby slowly die in the road.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:47 pm

While there is some merit to that argument I suspect delayed gratification issues would undermine their plans and their patience. Further more their goal (hope?) would be to damage Republicans in general not just Cain. Also if they don’t think Cain is viable and hope for collateral damage to Republicans they have to use what they have while he is still in the race.
Joe
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:48 pm

I did not know this, Paterno is an Obama man.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:51 pm

I suspect the lack of Bimbo eruptions during the senate race is part of why they are so unprepared this time.
richard mcenroe
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:54 pm

Bruce, it’s working with Ace and Riehl, so what the hell, it was worth the shot.
richard mcenroe
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:55 pm

The lefty organizer from Studio City likes to infiltrate Tea Party events. Following him around is fun! but it doesn’t make him a Tea Partier.
Dm
November 7th, 2011 @ 7:56 pm

I want to see Herm asked a single question:

Mr Cain, since you’ve been married, have you ever made a sexual overture on a woman other than your wife.

Who here thinks Herm hasn’t been a roving.
Dm
November 7th, 2011 @ 8:01 pm

The harassment consists of him using his position of authority and power to exert sexual favours from those under him in the chain of command, or people coming to him in the ordinary course of business, and he then trying to exert sexual favours as a condition of business consideration, hiring, promoting, pay raising, etc.

This is text book sexual harassment.

He was in a position to decide her future with his lobbying group, and he made it quite clear that if she “wanted a job,” she would have to perform a “job” on him.

That’s not a pass.

That’s an asshole at work.