Mark Block, Cain's Chief-Of-Staff, Falsely 'Confirms' Accuser's Son Works For POLITICO [UPDATED]
Herman Cain's campaign may want to verify facts before confirming anything on television.
Mark Block, Cain's chief-of-staff, spoke to Sean Hannity on Fox News Tuesday, and wrongly claimed that the son of a woman who accused Cain of sexual harassment in the 1990s works at POLITICO.
"At the press conference it was brought up that Karen Kraushaar had come out as one of the women, so we've come to find out that her son works at POLITICO, the organization that originally put this story out," Block said.
When Hannity asked if the information about Kraushaar's "son" was confirmed, Block said: "We've confirmed that he does indeed work at POLITICO and that's his mother, yes."
Josh Kraushaar, the man Block appears to be talking about, denied these claims. On Tuesday, Kraushaar posted numerous messages on his Twitter page that refuted Block's "confirmed" allegations.
Kraushaar acknowledged working at POLITICO from 2007 to 2010, but said he had been at the National Journal for over a year. His Twitter bio lists his current job title as the executive editor of the publication's blog The Hotline. He's also not related to Cain's accuser.
"For a presidential spokesman to go on TV and make up blatant falsehoods doesn't speak well for his boss, either," Kraushaar wrote.
Kraushaar did manage to keep his sense of humor about the whole situation. "The only positive benefit about being smeared by Mark Block on Hannity is I'm getting 100 new Twitter followers a minute."
According to CNN's politicalticker blog, Karen Kraushaar accused Cain of sexual harassment when he led the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. She was the second woman to come forward publicly with allegations about the GOP presidential candidate, but only did so after her identity was revealed by the iPad news site, The Daily.
Karen Kraushaar, 55, is a registered Republican who works at the Treasury Department. Through her attorney, she has described the alleged harassment as "a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO," NPR reported. She reportedly received a payout in 1999.
UPDATE:
Cain's campaign admitted its mistake Wednesday in a statement to the Daily Caller.
“Based upon information available at the time of Mr. Block’s Tuesday night interview on Fox News, the campaign was led to believe that Mr. Josh Kraushaar, currently with the National Journal and a former employee of Politico, was the son of Karen Kraushaar,” campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon told the Daily Caller. “We have since learned that is not the case.”
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The Huffington Post First Posted: 11/09/11 05:03 AM ET Updated: 11/09/11 01:00 PM ET