New Cain accuser to discuss sexual harassment claims

A new woman accusing Herman Cain of sexual harassment will hold a press conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred on Monday afternoon.

According to a press release distributed by Allred, the woman was harassed by Cain “when she sought his help with an employment issue when he was President of the National Restaurant Association.”

{mosads}The accuser — who would be the fourth woman to complain of improper behavior by Cain during his time leading the trade organization — is expected to detail specifically what transpired during the incident with Cain.

“Ms. Allred’s client will be the first to give her name and to speak out about details of what she alleges occurred between her and Cain,” the press release said.

The presidential hopeful has said he was falsely accused of sexual harassment at the trade group, and his campaign has accused rivals of stirring up claims. So far the allegations do not appear to have hurt Cain much with Republican primary voters — he remains neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney at the top of several national polls released in recent days.

On Friday, one of two women who accused Cain of harassment during his time as head of the National Restaurant Association issued a press release through her attorney defending her claims after the Republican front-runner dismissed them as “baseless.”

“She made a complaint in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO,” said her attorney, Joel Bennett. “The complaints were resolved in an agreement with the acceptance of a monetary settlement. She and her husband see no value in revisiting this matter now, nor in discussing the matter any further, publicly or privately. In fact it would be extremely painful to do so.”

A second woman who received a payout from the National Restaurant Association has declined to speak on the issue, citing a confidentiality agreement she was required to sign as part of the settlement. A third woman, who told The Associated Press that she considered but ultimately decided against filing a sexual harassment claim, has also decided against speaking about the incident.

Celebrity gossip website Radar Online was the first to report the press conference.

Allred, who represented Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the O.J. Simpson murder trial, spoke last week to The Hill about the accusations against Cain, calling it “almost unimaginable” that he was unaware of the details of the harassment claims, as he had claimed when the scandal first broke.

“Hopefully he’s not going to be able to dance away from this, and avoid and evade answering the questions,” she said.

—This story was posted at 10:13 a.m. and was updated at 10:58 a.m.