It was chaos on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon as dozens of reporters and cameraman chased Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain as he made his way to appearances with lawmakers.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO ignored questions from the herd of reporters about allegations — which he has repeatedly denied — that he harassed two female employees while leading the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
Instead, at the open-to-the-public meeting with the members of the Congressional Health Care Caucus, hosted by Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess, Cain discussed his support for repealing President Obama’s healthcare law “because it is a disaster.”
“If Congress moves fast enough — hint, hint, hint — to give me the repeal legislation, I plan to sign the repeal on March 23, 2013 because it was on March 23, 2010 that President Obama signed that disastrous legislation into law,” Cain said.
Cain got a few laughs when he added that the date also “happens to be my son’s birthday.”
The small room in the Rayburn House Office Building was packed with journalists there to question him on the allegations that surfaced on the website Politico on Sunday.
Earlier on Wednesday, there was a tense moment between Cain and reporters at an appearance with a group of doctors when he told the press he would only be speaking about healthcare, but several went on to ask him about the allegations anyway. (RELATED: Cain gets testy with reporters asking about sexual harassment allegations)
“What did I say?” Cain said with his voice rising to the reporters. “Excuse me. Excuse me.”
The most frequent question asked of Cain on Wednesday was whether he thinks the National Restaurant Association should release the women who accused him of harassment from their non-disclosure agreements, allowing them to discuss publicly their recollections of the allegations.
The National Restaurant Association on Wednesday said an attorney for one of the women, Joel Bennett, contacted the organization on Wednesday morning about the matter.
“An Association representative promptly returned his call and asked Mr. Bennett to contact the Association’s outside counsel. Mr. Bennett indicated that he would do so tomorrow, after he met with his client,” said Sue Hensley, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association.
Reporters followed Cain to the Capitol Hill Club, where he was slated to meet with lawmakers at a meet and greet.
