Democratic California Senator Kamala Harrisclaims she was unaware that one of her senior staffers was accused of sexual harassment before he resigned.
The senior aide in question, Larry Wallace, resigned on Wednesday after the Sacramento Bee asked Ms Harris’ office about a sexual harassment lawsuit involving him that was brought against the California Department of Justice in 2016.
Mr Wallace was said to have been involved in a $400,000 settlement over the harassment allegation. The alleged incident occurred in 2016 when Wallace was working as the director of law enforcement under Ms Harris, who was serving as the California attorney general at the time, the paper reported
Danielle Hartley, Mr Wallace’s former executive assistant, sued the California Department of Justice in December 2016. Ms Harris was still the state’s attorney general at the time, but was transitioning out and preparing to be sworn in as a US Senator.
The Bee reported Ms Hartley’s complaint accused Mr Wallace of “gender harassment and other demeaning behavior,” and said she was concerned of being “harassed and demeaned due to her gender.”
In answer to the lawsuit, the Department of Justice denied the allegations.
The settlement came in May 2017 although they continued to deny the claims.
Ms Harris has been an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement campaigning against sexual assault and harassment.
She was among a group of Democratic women legislators who called for the resignation of Senator Al Franken in December 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
This summer she also introduced a bill aimed at curbing workplace harassment.
The US lawmaker’s office insists that they were not aware of Mr Wallace’s harassment allegations.
“We were unaware of this issue and take accusations of harassment extremely seriously,” a spokeswoman for Ms Harris, a 2020 presidential hopeful for Democrats, said in a statement “Mr Wallace offered his resignation to the senator and she accepted it.”
