A spokesperson for second gentleman Doug Emhoff denied claims made in a tabloid report that he assaulted a former girlfriend in 2012.
The Daily Mail on Wednesday reported Emhoff allegedly struck an ex-girlfriend while the two were leaving an event at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2012, according to three unnamed friends of the woman, whom the Daily Mail declined to name.
CNN has not independently verified the allegation.
In a statement to Semafor on Thursday, a spokesperson for Emhoff said, “This report is untrue,” and that “any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false.”
When asked about the incident by CNN, a spokesperson declined to comment.
According to the Daily Mail, the three friends of Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend provided a photo of the pair together along with travel itineraries and communications between them to prove they travelled to the festival in 2012.
One friend told the Daily Mail they spoke to Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend on the night of the alleged incident. Another friend told the Daily Mail that Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend also told her of the alleged assault at the time. A third friend told the tabloid she first learned of the assault after Emhoff’s ex-girlfriend shared details in 2014 and recalled further details in 2018 when then-California Sen. Kamala Harris was participating in confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault at the time.