Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff reportedly paid $80,000 in “hush money” to his former nanny as part of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) but was not prosecuted, unlike Trump.
Former President Donald Trump was prosecuted in New York and convicted on 34 counts for failing to list NDA payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (a.k.a. Stephanie Clifford) as campaign expenses (he denies the affair).
Democrats, including Emhoff’s wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, have referred to Trump as a “convicted felon,” referring to the New York case. Yet Emhoff, too, allegedly paid “hush money.”
The UK Daily Mail revealed in August that Emhoff’s first marriage broke up because of his affair with the family nanny, whom he allegedly impregnated. The affair was hidden during Harris’s Senate and presidential campaigns.
Emhoff acknowledged the affair to CNN once the story broke, but did not mention impregnating the nanny, or the fate of the child. Democrats and the media nonetheless praised Emhoff for reshaping “the perception of masculinity.”
On Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported that Emhoff had “forcefully slapped” a girlfriend in 2012, which prompted her to leave him. It added that Emhoff allegedly paid the nanny a “settlement of around $80,000, and had the nanny sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).” It was not clear when the amount was paid, or over what period of time. The nanny lives in New York, where Trump was prosecuted.
Emhoff divorced his first wife in 2020 and married Kamala Harris in 2014; she ran for Senate in 2015-2016.