A man who previously claimed he was sexually assaulted by a well-known Republican figure in Washington DC has now pulled back his accusation, expressing remorse for the initial claims.
Matt Schlapp, the organizer behind the prominent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), faced allegations from Carlton Huffman, a campaign worker for ex-Senate hopeful Herschel Walker. Huffman alleged that Schlapp groped him in a car in 2022 while giving Schlapp a lift to his hotel. Huffman also claimed Schlapp, who’s spouse is the ex-Trump White House staffer Mercedes Schlapp, asked him to come to his hotel room.
The lawsuit initially stated that the CPAC leader had “put his hand” on Huffman’s leg and started “aggressively fondling [his] genital area in a continued manner,” as per the plaintiff’s legal representation.
But now, in a twist relayed first by Politico via Schlapp’s once-adversarial legal team, Huffman calls the incident a “misunderstanding”.
“The allegations I made in my lawsuit arose from a total misunderstanding, and I’m sorry that my actions brought hurt to the Schlapp family,” Huffman noted, as per a statement Politico got through the CPAC head’s representative. Politico verified the statement’s authenticity with Huffman prior to publishing.
“The Schlapps have explained that the assertions made about me were due to a misunderstanding, which is truly unfortunate…I received no compensation from the Schlapps or the ACU to drop my lawsuit against them.”
This unexpected turnaround concludes an over year-long saga that smeared Schlapp’s name, who leads the annual conservative event in National Harbor via his role at the American Conservative Union. Schlapp consistently refuted the claims, which emerged anonymously but were later detailed in a report by The Daily Beast.
Schlapp “laid his hands on me for an extended period, without invitation or consent,” Huffman stated in a video The Daily Beast obtained, allegedly recorded on the evening of the purported event in 2022.
“Matt Schlapp from CPAC touched me improperly and kept at it, leaving me wondering what on earth was happening, with him actually doing this to me,” Huffman expressed in the footage.
Earlier in the year, when questioned by The Independent during his CPAC event, Schlapp chose not to comment on the issue.
Mr. Walker’s Senate bid ultimately failed following reports that two women he had been involved with claimed he had financed their abortions despite his public anti-abortion stance.
