Emhoff Refutes Personal Life Stories as 'a distraction'
The second gentleman has alleged that Trump is engaging in gaslighting behavior.
TroibNews 
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff responded to critiques of his personal life during a Friday interview, suggesting that tabloid inquiries into his past relationships and remarks regarding Vice President Kamala Harris serve as a “distraction.”
“We don’t have time to be pissed off, we don’t have time to focus on it,” Emhoff stated in excerpts from an interview set to air in full on Monday's episode of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s all a distraction. It's designed to try to get us off our game.”
While he did not specifically address the allegations reported by the Daily Mail earlier this month, which claimed he struck his then-girlfriend in public in 2012, he noted that the Harris campaign has denied this account in a statement to Semafor.
This interview marks Emhoff's first acknowledgment of the attempts by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to highlight negative narratives regarding his and Harris’ past relationships.
“The stakes are too high, so all that other stuff you’re talking about bounces off,” he emphasized, asserting that he and Harris have not let this issue distract them. “We’re not going to let it distract us.”
The Daily Mail previously reported that Emhoff had an affair during his first marriage, prior to meeting Harris. He took responsibility for that situation at the time, stating that he and his then-wife Kerstin “went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”
Kerstin Emhoff has since actively supported Harris’ presidential campaign, participating in the effort and appearing alongside Emhoff at the Democratic convention.
In the interview, Emhoff also criticized Trump for his refusal to engage in another debate with Harris, accusing him instead of “creating this fog of misinformation and disinformation and gaslighting rather than face her again.”
He depicted both himself and Harris as entirely focused on securing election victory, indicating that other considerations have been sidelined.
“You’ve seen us in the before times, a lot of happy couple talk,” he remarked. “Right now we’re deferring that kind of happy couple time because everything we talk about right now is, what else can we be doing to win this election? Where else can we go?”
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
“We don’t have time to be pissed off, we don’t have time to focus on it,” Emhoff stated in excerpts from an interview set to air in full on Monday's episode of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s all a distraction. It's designed to try to get us off our game.”
While he did not specifically address the allegations reported by the Daily Mail earlier this month, which claimed he struck his then-girlfriend in public in 2012, he noted that the Harris campaign has denied this account in a statement to Semafor.
This interview marks Emhoff's first acknowledgment of the attempts by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to highlight negative narratives regarding his and Harris’ past relationships.
“The stakes are too high, so all that other stuff you’re talking about bounces off,” he emphasized, asserting that he and Harris have not let this issue distract them. “We’re not going to let it distract us.”
The Daily Mail previously reported that Emhoff had an affair during his first marriage, prior to meeting Harris. He took responsibility for that situation at the time, stating that he and his then-wife Kerstin “went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”
Kerstin Emhoff has since actively supported Harris’ presidential campaign, participating in the effort and appearing alongside Emhoff at the Democratic convention.
In the interview, Emhoff also criticized Trump for his refusal to engage in another debate with Harris, accusing him instead of “creating this fog of misinformation and disinformation and gaslighting rather than face her again.”
He depicted both himself and Harris as entirely focused on securing election victory, indicating that other considerations have been sidelined.
“You’ve seen us in the before times, a lot of happy couple talk,” he remarked. “Right now we’re deferring that kind of happy couple time because everything we talk about right now is, what else can we be doing to win this election? Where else can we go?”
Frederick R Cook contributed to this report for TROIB News
