Herman Cain, who President Donald Trump wants to put on the Federal Reserve Board, repeated his 2011 denial of an extramarital affair and said he would not withdraw from consideration for the U.S. central bank post after his accuser again came forward.
“This is recycled defamation that was nearly eight years ago. And if they want to go down that road, go ahead,” he said in a Fox News interview Thursday. “But I am not going to drop out because they are recycling the unfounded accusations.”
The former pizza company executive said “I did know her, I don’t deny that. I deny an affair.”
Cain spoke after his accuser, Ginger White, said she was willing to show under oath that the affair took place by identifying certain -- normally hidden -- parts of his body.
“I ask Herman, if I never had a relationship with you, how would I be in the position to describe parts of your body that are not visible,” White told a news briefing Thursday in New York. “It’s time for you, Herman, to quit. Quit thinking that just because a few years have passed, your actions from the past are no longer relevant.”
White was flanked by her lawyer, Gloria Allred, who said her client was willing to deliver the description under oath before the Senate Banking Committee, which vets appointments to the Fed board. A spokeswoman for the committee declined to comment.
{{/usCountry}}White was flanked by her lawyer, Gloria Allred, who said her client was willing to deliver the description under oath before the Senate Banking Committee, which vets appointments to the Fed board. A spokeswoman for the committee declined to comment.
{{/usCountry}}White’s allegations surfaced after Cain became a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He also faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment, which he has denied as well.
Allred said she is also representing one of the harassment accusers.
Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the Fed for interest-rate increases last year, has yet to formally nominate Cain for the post. Senior Trump adviser Larry Kudlow said Wednesday the White House was also interviewing other candidates for the Fed board, which has two vacant seats.
The president’s desire to place Cain and fellow supporter Stephen Moore at the Fed have sparked concern over the politicization of the bank. The Fed answers to Congress and was designed to have independent control over monetary policy, insulating interest rates from short-term political considerations that might do long-term economic harm.