Karen Kraushaar, Herman Cain Accuser, May Not Hold Joint Press Conference: Report

Karen Kraushaar, one of the former National Restaurant Association employees to accuse Herman Cain of sexual harassment and the second to come forward publicly, is "not considering a press conference" unless she can get the remaining two anonymous woman to participate, CNN reports.

"She still would like to have a press conference with all four women," a source close to Kraushaar told CNN, but it's unclear exactly what she plans to do if the others refuse to come forward.

On Wednesday, Kraushaar's attorney, Joel Bennett, suggested that she would be willing to hold a joint press conference with Sharon Bialek, the first woman to go public with her allegations. Now CNN's source claims this is unlikely.

Bennett also told CNN that Kraushaar had called the two other women, but hadn't received a response.

While the scandal surrounding alleged sexual harassment continues to develop, Cain, who has repeatedly denied that there is any truth to the accusations, is seeking to move his campaign beyond the story that has rocked his candidacy since the beginning of the month.

The Associated Press reports:

Republican Herman Cain met voters for the first time since sex harassment claims engulfed his upstart presidential bid as an aggressively supportive grass-roots crowd came out Thursday to cheer him and jockey with a horde of media.

Cain was touring Michigan tea party groups all day, his first campaign swing since the story broke late last month. He's aiming to hold on to the grassroots spark that catapulted him to the top of the GOP field before the allegations of sexual harassment became public.

 

 

Comments

[Kandyann]

09:04 AM on 11/13/2011

Personally, this man should live on an island with no women. I wonder if he likes the taste of his foot being in his mouth all of the time. Remember, he said that he would take a lie detector test, etc. to prove he is innocent, well, I think his wife should have one instead because she most likely wouldn't be able to lie as well as he appears to.

[jlglaze]

11:32 PM on 11/11/2011

Herman Cain isn't a man to be accused and take it sitting down. These women better have proof before they accuse someone. He seems to me a man of interity and a stand up guy.

[Damon Lazer]

11:45 AM on 11/12/2011

He seems a man of integrity, I suppose, if you exclude the demonstrable lies which he has told.

[Twelve]

01:01 PM on 11/12/2011

Oh good grief. Let's just blame the victim. We really haven't come very far in the last 50 years have we?

[MCWAY]

08:47 PM on 11/12/2011

First of all, they ain't victims. They're accusers and until some solid proof comes forth, they remain just that: ACCUSERS.

Furthermore, Kraushaar's been cleared for nearly two weeks to talk. Earlier, Bennett was talking about how eager Kraushaar was to say what Cain supposedly did to her. Yet, she conveniently clams up now.

Hmmm....Could Cain's new legal muscle, defamation attorney Lin Wood, have anything to do with her sudden silence?

And why won't she do the conference by herself or with Bialek (whose credibility is falling to pieces before our eyes)?

[wally12345]

03:45 PM on 11/11/2011

these women better really watch themselves if any of this is made up or not so real. Maybe they just now felt sexual abuse. what a crock..maybe they flung themselves on the man. you know inuendo goes. they got what they asked for, that is attention. I think they have attention disorder that they can not control.....to bad so sad.

[soisay]

04:45 PM on 11/11/2011

Sure. And I bet you feel that a lot of women where you have worked have thrown themselves at you too Wally. Lots of men share that fantasy.

[Damon Lazer]

12:01 PM on 11/12/2011

It would be petty to pick apart your deficiency in English skills, but let's examine your argument. You are saying that these women, two of whom have chosen to remain anonymous, just want attention. It's hard to proceed with that line of reasoning unless you willingly suspend your intellect.

Secondly, if they had flung themselves on the man, it is unlikely that there would have been settlements at all, much less for a year's salary.

I don't know if the allegations are true or not, we don't really have enough evidence to conclude that with any certainty. Companies do sometimes make settlement in cases where the allegations are possibly false, because it's easier than going to trial. But if you are accused of sexual harassment TWICE and TWICE your organization, as a result of these accusations, paid a hefty sum of money to the accusers, that is something you are not likely to forget, not in ten years, not in thirty years.

[whtwtr123]

02:02 PM on 11/11/2011

Cain scares hell out of dems.

[eyepatch]

03:46 PM on 11/11/2011

real clowns are scarier than the fake ones.......

[Damon Lazer]

12:01 PM on 11/12/2011

Eh, mostly just the women.

[99 percenter]

01:47 PM on 11/11/2011

Cain's sexual indiscretions not withstanding, and they are serious charges, but rather his utter lack of bona fides and intellectual heft for the office of the Presidency is more disturbing to me. This man is an idiot and many are still "making up their minds about Herman Cain?" even without the sexual accusations he's unfit to lead our great country. On veterans day we should renew and affirm our quest for excellence over mediocrity, intellect over ignorance, oneness over selfishness, and progress over obstructionism. Reject this fear based power grab and embrace the love that is America and the one who will stand for ALL of the people and not the privileged few!

[dwpfff]

04:50 PM on 11/11/2011

Mr. Cain started from a meager background and is a self made very successful businessman. That does not happen by accident. He has much more impressive credentials for the leadership position than has our current President. By far! A lot more business experience and much more economic know-how. I thought the Liberals' mantra from the Bill Clinton days has always been, "one's social indiscretions are not considered relative to the way one is doing his job"? "What he does in his private life is nobody else's business"? I wonder what has changed between Bill Clinton and Mr. Cain? A little Liberal hypocrasy?

[Damon Lazer]

12:06 PM on 11/12/2011

You seem to be making a straw man argument with 99 percenter about the sexual harassment allegations. And while Clinton's actions may not have been moral, at least they were consensual. The alleged actions of Cain were not. That's a pretty huge difference.

[dourdinlives]

01:18 PM on 11/11/2011

hang on a little longer ladys...you will be paid. take the money and run, swallow your pride, and soak in a hot bath. everyone knows you ladys are telling the truth but since you don't have it on film..the money will come now, but exoneration will only happen when this pig gropes the wrong person.

[dwpfff]

04:53 PM on 11/11/2011

Like Monica? or Paula Jones? Or Jennifer Flowers? I thought what Bill Clinton did in his private life was nobody's business. What has changed? I love the way Liberals think.

[Twelve]

01:07 PM on 11/12/2011

Ok, one more time......Clinton's affairs were CONSENUAL, not harrassment. What part of that do you not understand?

[Twelve]

01:06 PM on 11/12/2011

Agreed! Men like this never change.

[sw4eq]

01:12 PM on 11/11/2011

Steve Deace, an influential conservative talk radio host whose nationally syndicated show in Des Moines helped Mike Huckabee win Iowa in 2008, told Politico that Cain sexually harassed one of the talker’s female staff members. “Like awkward/inappropriate things he’s said to two females on my staff, that the fact the guy’s wife is never around…that’s almost always a warning flag to me,” Deace said in an e-mail to the paper. The radio host said he did not include the incident in a recent op-ed he wrote denouncing Cain’s candidacy because he wanted to make his piece “about his record and not the personal stuff.” Also, Veteran Republican pollster and former National Restaurant Association employee Chris Wilson told Oklahoma news radio station KTOK that he witnessed Cain sexually harass a woman who was a low-level staffer fresh out of college.

[camelias and sweet tea]

01:40 PM on 11/11/2011

I guess they are all JUST LIARS according to Cain. He says thousands of people will come forward for his defense, has anyone heard if even 1 person including his wife, have come forward to defend him?

[wally12345]

03:54 PM on 11/11/2011

a man has freedom of speech. it is not Harassment to come on to women, is it?? Can nobody ask another if they want to go out and do things? This getting to be a little scary for every man in this country. God help me and all us other men.

[sw4eq]

04:20 PM on 11/11/2011

Do you think it's presidential material to "come on" to women?

[Damon Lazer]

12:09 PM on 11/12/2011

I bet the ladies love your style.

[Gestas]

01:08 PM on 11/11/2011

It's to early to burn Herman...give him some more time and let this mess boil a little longer..When a guy tells you He has never,,never done anything wrong...you can be sure He's not to big to fall.

[den1953]

01:41 PM on 11/11/2011

The next debate will sink the Cain crazy Train he has no idea China went nuclear in the 60's, the foreign policy debate should be hilarious!

[cowgirl29]

12:53 PM on 11/11/2011

I'm still undecided on how I feel about Mr. Cain, but I just don't understand why these women said nothing until now?

[den1953]

01:44 PM on 11/11/2011

It was Herman Cain that bought the whole thing up when he told the press they can check he record from when he ran for state Senator and gave out the name of the consulting firm that investigated him!

[camelias and sweet tea]

01:44 PM on 11/11/2011

I try to place myself in their shoes...I too had an incident at my workplace and even with witnesses I knew no one would take my side against a boss. But it sure would bug the heck out of me that knowing he got away with it and is now trying to run for President...I would speak out too. Just look at what they are doing to these women and how they are taking his side, it makes me sick to my stomach. That is also why so many rape cases do not get reported, they always try to blame the woman..don't know why.

[Tony Moschetti]

12:21 PM on 11/11/2011

"Karen Kraushaar, Herman Cain Accuser, May Not Hold Joint Press Conference"

Wy not just give Axlerod's script to Anita Hill, and let her fill for the other "hookers." She was the "model" for this kind of vile demagoguery! She had no more ammo than this current bunch of "rented" women.

[InisLass]

01:03 PM on 11/11/2011

IF you are a male as your nick infers, you are a disgrace to decent MEN. Please let your mother know you are espousing this line of thought. You have every right to disagree with these issues but labeling these women this way is a discredit to ALL women who HAVE gone through these types of things AND I would add, your own mother, who probably could tell you of something she went through along life's way. Difference of opinion is one thing. Labeling women this way is NOT and a total discredit to good men.

[99 percenter]

01:32 PM on 11/11/2011

Exactly right and well said!

[camelias and sweet tea]

01:45 PM on 11/11/2011

soooooooo fanned # 150. this is exactly why women do not come forward.

[den1953]

01:43 PM on 11/11/2011

The woman are Republican and one is a Tea Party member are you just making this up?

[lcovert]

12:12 PM on 11/11/2011

I just love all the posts from right wingers who still believe that the Democratic Party somehow is conspiring to get Herman Cain out of the race. Don't you know we would absolutely LOVE for Herman Cain to win the Republican nomination? President Obama would tear him apart (metaphorically speaking) in the debates and we would have a true landslide in 2012. It would be EPIC!

[den1953]

01:47 PM on 11/11/2011

They just can't get their head around it that a Republican candidate wants to attack Herman Cain, they still think the Republican Party still likes the Tea Party and wants them to stick around after the elections?

[jlglaze]

11:39 PM on 11/11/2011

Such fooliishness is shameful. Leave it to a democrat to have such thoughts. Shame on you!

[gywkwakwa]

12:08 PM on 11/11/2011

Everybody needs to remember that there was never any substantiation to the "allegations" being made against Herman Cain. Settling claims of this nature is a common practice that does not infer guilt, but prevents bad publicity and or avoids costly litigation.

The problem here is that none of these allegations came up when Mr. Cain was running for Congress, nor did they surface before he surged ahead in the polls. I was not there and don't know what happened but I do know that Ms. Bialeks' story does not pass the smell test, and Ms. Krashaar's history shows a tendency toward litigation to resolve employment issues. This provides for me the "benefit of Doubt" necessary to prevent a determination of guilt when coupled with an otherwise honorable man's assertions of innocence.

I do know that given the choices Cain is the only GOP candidate I support for the nomination; and based on the latest polls, which show either a tie between Cain and Romney or Cain with a 2-6 point lead (with the exception of one or two polls overall), I am not alone.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

CAIN for President in 2012, America's best hope.

[Jordan53]

01:14 PM on 11/11/2011

You pick and choose your facts based on your bias. How many successful business men do you know that have had two settled sexual harrassment claims? As for your claim that the one woman has a tendancy toward litigation shows that you did not research what went on there and that her second claim was only about staying home after an accident. This guy is not presidential and will never be the president. A man who acts appropriately in business situations does not face this kind of accusations (plural)...Obama 2012

[gywkwakwa]

03:00 PM on 11/11/2011

As an administrator and CEO I faced three spurious claims against me, 1 based on race discrimination and one on age discrimination. As a not-for-profit we settled the claims through EEOC hearings and I was cleared on all three. As a SGT in the Army I faced one claim that I was being sexist/racist towards one of my female troops, again cleared with no findings. Point: spurious claims are made all the time, for various different reasons. That doesn't mean there is any substance there.

My assertion regarding the previous litigation was that she has shown litigious tendencies in the past; any behaviorist can tell you that past behavior is the most accurate predictor of future behavior. Clue: she also claimed sexually inappropriate content of a email joke that was being circulated.

As for Mr. Cain's being presidential...there are many that disagree, myself for one. And I can say with confidence he is much more presidential than the current occupant of the White House.

[camelias and sweet tea]

01:47 PM on 11/11/2011

Wow! unbelievable... you really think he is Americas Best hope, we are doomed.
Look up an article Cain wrote for the New Voice in Nov. 2010 about how terrible VAT tax would be for our country..and now he is bellowing about 9 9 9 ... He is a flipper too, but it is because he never knows what he is talking about...

[gywkwakwa]

03:06 PM on 11/11/2011

Wow, unbelievable that you don't know the difference between what Cain is proposing and a VAT, yet feel compelled to comment anyway. There is an extreme difference between a Value Added Tax, where a tax is added for every step of production and a National sales tax.

At least Herman Cain is trying to address the issue with innovative approaches as opposed to continuing the same tired old remedies that have led to debt we can't repay and an economy that is simply not recovering.

And BTW: if you support the current administration then you have no room to talk about flipping, Obama has flipped, flopped and outright lied.

[lumleyq45]

12:07 PM on 11/11/2011

Each is looking for their "15 minutes of fame". Go away.

[db025]

12:02 PM on 11/11/2011

As to all of these accusers so far, they've all got questionable backgrounds, have made harassment charges against other former employers, and all come from Chicago.

Herman Cain has never lived in Chicago, and has only been there a few times. I'll be keeping my options open, and watching him. The most fully qualified candidate is Newt, but his baggage and the liberal media pretty much make him a non-contender.

After Newt, Cain is the most qualified. Romney has romneycare, and the big dig, both of which are colossal failures and wastes of money. Cain is also the only candidate who isn't a professional politician. We've been electing only professional politicians since JFK, and how is that working out for us?

[Jordan53]

01:15 PM on 11/11/2011

Why is Cain qualified?????? He has never held public office, never ran a successful campaign...a POTUS is required to have more skills than running a restaurant business!!! He is ignorant to world affairs and cannot seem to manage a crisis...How is he qualified to be POTUS????

[wally12345]

04:09 PM on 11/11/2011

He is qualified because he is over 35 years of age. that is good enough for me. You REALLY don't want any more professional politicians in the circus.

[camelias and sweet tea]

01:51 PM on 11/11/2011

This will be the third time he has run for political office and says he has been nothing but a businessman... He ran for President in 2000, dropped out , ran for Senate and now is running for President again.... Cain is the LEAST qualified, he is just another Palin

[rwhufpostdeb]

11:48 AM on 11/11/2011

the sexual harassment issue has been pushed beyond its limits. its watered itself down to the point of transparency. By its own means it has played itself out. As you can see by these articles here it's a non issue any more. Just a few hangers on hoping for the dart of filth to stick.