Doug Emhoff doesn’t deny report that he slapped his ex-girlfriend before a film event abroad

Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff did not explicitly deny allegations made to the Daily Mail by several unnamed sources that he once slapped an ex-girlfriend at his Los Angeles law firm and also hired a “trophy secretary.”

Emhoff called the tabloid reports a “distraction” while responding to a question during a Friday interview with Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” The allegations could not be independently verified by Fox News Digital.

“We don’t have time to be angry. We don’t have time to focus on this. It’s to try to take us out of the game,” Emhoff said, before moving on to a warning about a possible second term for ex-President Trump. “We understand what is at stake. We understand the responsibility. We understand what is necessary. Our country. Our future.”

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Trump recently told the Daily Wire that if he were to face the same allegations as Emhoff, it would be “the greatest story in the media in the last five years.”

Earlier this month, an unnamed representative for Emhoff told Semafor that the report that he slapped a former girlfriend during a trip to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival was “untrue.”

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“Any claim that he would or has ever hit a woman is false,” the representative said.

The Daily Mail’s exclusive story at the time quoted three unidentified sources as claiming that Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend while the couple waited in a valet queue after an event in Nice, France, in 2012. The alleged altercation was reportedly sparked when the woman – identified only by the pseudonym “Jane” and described as a successful New York lawyer – flirted with a valet, according to the article.

The Harris campaign, the vice president’s office and a representative for Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, did not comment despite repeated requests from Fox News.

Several media outlets, including Semafor, noted that they were unable to keep up with the Daily Mail’s reporting, and legacy media outlets such as The New York Times have not yet reported on the claims.

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The Daily Mail article was based on the recollections of three people described as friends of “Jane.” The source said their sources requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from Emhoff. The three friends reportedly provided the outlet with a photo of the couple when they were still a couple, as well as travel itineraries and correspondence between Emhoff and “Jane” to prove they made the trip to France in May 2012.

One of the sources is described by the Daily Mail as a New York lawyer who learned of the alleged incident through “Jane.”

“He pulled her up and hit her so hard that she spun around,” the source is quoted as saying. “She said she was completely shocked. She was so angry that she hit him on one side and then the other cheek with her other hand.”

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.