One of the most prominent right-wing conferences currently operating remains ensnared by allegations against its parent organization’s chairman, Matt Schlapp, of sexual misconduct. Now, that parent organization — the American Conservative Union (ACU), which is behind the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — has been made a defendant in an already filed lawsuit formally accusing Schlapp of misconduct.
The update to the earlier case that added Schlapp’s organization as a defendant also includes new allegations that personnel at ACU were aware before the case of separate, past claims against Schlapp of similar behavior. The allegedly impacted individuals in those incidents are not participating in the case, with the plaintiff’s team instead saying they obtained information on the developments through the discovery process. Schlapp is specifically accused in the main allegations driving the case of groping Carlton Huffman, who worked in Georgia for the ultimately failed campaign for Senate of Republican Herschel Walker.
The other incidents now spotlighted in Huffman’s case stretch back to 2017. One alleged encounter took place earlier the same year that Huffman says he was targeted by Schlapp. “In one alleged incident, during a fundraising trip to South Florida in early 2022, Schlapp was accused of stripping to his underwear and rubbing against another person without his consent, according to the filing,” The Washington Post summarizes. The case could produce financial consequences for its targets, who are responsible for a political gathering that regularly features the most prominent names in conservative politics as speakers. The Post says that trial is scheduled for June of next year. Read more from the Post’s update on the case here.
Donald Trump, who has repeatedly appeared at CPAC, will also soon be facing additional court proceedings related to allegations of sexual misconduct after a federal court rejected his attempts to use arguments of presidential immunity to evade trial. The trial will cover the level of financial penalty to impose on Trump for defamation claims made by writer E. Jean Carroll after Trump’s antagonistic responses to Carroll’s account of Trump sexually assaulting her in the 1990s.
