A male aide on former Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign has accused prominent conservative organizer Matt Schlapp of groping him, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, which the aide filed anonymously in Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria, accuses Schlapp of “aggressively fondling” the accuser’s “genital area in a sustained fashion” while the pair were alone in a car together in October. The lawsuit says the accuser chose to file the suit anonymously because of privacy concerns and a fear of retaliation.
“Mr. Doe did not consent to Mr. Schlapp’s fondling of his genital area,” the lawsuit reads.
Schlapp shared a statement from his attorney, Charlie Spies, on Twitter, denying the allegations.
“The Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual,” the statement read. “No family should ever go through this and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options.”
The suit, which seeks at least $9.4 million in damages, accuses Schlapp and his wife Mercedes Schlapp of defamation and conspiracy.
“Our client is the victim of a sexual assault by Mr. Schlapp,” Timothy Hyland, a lawyer for the accuser, said in a statement. “The complaint details claims for battery, defamation, and conspiracy. Our client takes no joy in filing this lawsuit. However, Mr. Schlapp has had ample time to accept responsibility and apologize for his despicable actions. But instead of doing the right thing, Mr. Schlapp, Ms. Schlapp, and their friends and associates embarked on a ridiculous, spurious, and defamatory attempt to smear the reputation of Mr. Schhlapp’s victim.”
The lawsuit alleges the incident occurred when the plaintiff was tasked with driving Schlapp to a Walker campaign event in Perry, Ga. The aide and Schlapp went to the Capital Grille bar that evening after Schlapp invited the staffer for a drink, the lawsuit says. When the pair visited a second bar, Manuel’s Tavern, Schlapp’s leg was “in almost constant contact” with the staffer’s leg, the suit claims.
When the staffer drove Schlapp back to his hotel, Schlapp allegedly groped the staff member’s leg and crotch, leaving the aide “frozen with shock, mortification, and fear from what was happening, particularly given Mr. Schlapp’s power and status in conservative political circles,” according to the lawsuit.
Schlapp runs the American Conservative Union — the group responsible for organizing the Conservative Political Action Conference — and his wife, Mercedes, served as communications director for the Trump White House from 2017 to 2019.
The morning after the incident allegedly occurred, the staffer informed senior officials with the campaign about his encounter with Schlapp. Campaign officials purportedly then offered support to the aide and made arrangements for someone else to transport Schlapp.
“I did want to say I was uncomfortable with what happened last night,” the staffer wrote in a text to Schlapp, a screenshot of which was included in the lawsuit. “The campaign does have a driver who is available to get you to Macon and back to the airport.”
Schlapp then asked the staffer via text to give him a call before repeatedly calling the staffer himself, according to the lawsuit. Schlapp then failed to show up for a scheduled campaign event and did not ask the campaign about receiving a ride to the airport, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also alleges Mercedes Schlapp shared false information about the accuser in a neighborhood group chat after several news outlets reported the allegations earlier this month.
“We have learned that the accuser is a troubled individual,” Mercedes Schlapp wrote in the group chat, according to the suit. “He has been fired from multiple jobs including one firing for lying and lying n his resume. We are sticking to our lawyers statement.”
After news of the allegation broke earlier this month, ACU board members Charlie Gerow and Carolyn Meadows released a statement saying they “stand squarely behind” Schlapp.