Herman Cain Mustache - H 2011
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The former boyfriend of Sharon Bialek, the first woman to publicly say that she was groped by presidential candidate Herman Cain, stood by attorney Gloria Allred during a press conference Monday to support the allegations.
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Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician who dated Bialek in the 1990s when she worked for the National Restaurant Association when in it was headed by Cain, said that Bialek told him back then of an incident where Cain touched her inappropriately after having dinner with him.
Bialek asserted in a press conference of her own that she was let go from her NRA job and she reached out to Cain to see if he’d help her get reinstated. Since then, her credibility has been called into question by the Cain campaign, which posted several instances of lawsuits and bankruptcies she has been involved with. On Monday, Zuckerman disclosed he had also declared bankruptcy once.
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Bialek said she traveled from her home in Chicago to visit Cain in Washington in 1997 to talk about her job, which is when he reached under her skirt and forced her head toward his crotch.
“I can confirm when she returned, she was upset,” Zuckerman said at his press conference in Shrevesport, La., where he read from prepared remarks. “She said something had happened, and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner. She said she handled and did not want to discuss it further.” (Video is below).
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Zuckerman said he dated Bialek while she was going through a divorce and their romantic relationship ended a few months after the alleged incident with Cain. He said it was his idea for her to arrange a visit with Cain after she lost her job, and that he even paid for her hotel room. Bialek said in her earlier press conference that Cain had upgraded her to a suite.
The news conferences involving Cain’s alleged sexual misdeeds nearly two decades ago are clearly less interesting to the media and the public at large than they had been just a week ago when Allred’s press event with Bialek was a top story at cable news channels.
In contrast, an article Monday at BusinessInsider.com was headlined: “Gloria Allred’s Latest Press Conference Is Proof The Herman Cain Scandal Is Dead.”
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Journalists on Monday asked Allred if she was planning further such disclosures. “We are not disclosing what our future actions may be,” she said.
Allred has said previously that she’d like her client Bialek to join with another accuser, Karen Kraushaar, for a joint press conference, though it has yet to be arranged.
Meanwhile, Cain’s wife is set to defend her husband during an interview with Greta Van Susteren on the Fox News Channel tonight.
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