Has CPAC’s Matt Schlapp beaten the ‘crotch-pummeling’ allegations?

The GOP world was stunned last year when a Herschel Walker campaign staffer accused American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp of “pummeling” his crotch. On Tuesday, the Washington Examiner published an article headlined, “CPAC’s Matt Schlapp cleared in assault case, accuser apologizes.” But that’s not what happened: the article neglected to mention that a $480,000 settlement was paid to Carlton Huffman through an ACU insurance policy. The last time Cockburn checked, settling out of court is different to exoneration. 

The original lawsuit filed by Huffman against Schlapp last year sought more than $9 million in damages. Schlapp attempted to settle for a low-six figure sum last year, but Huffman refused. It’s only after agreeing upon the almost half-million dollar sum that Huffman agreed to drop the suit.

Huffman had alleged that Schlapp groped him while driving the conservative influencer to his hotel after a night out in Atlanta. The suit also says that Schlapp invited Huffman up to the hotel room, an offer which Huffman declined. Huffman later added both Schlapp’s wife Mercedes and the ACU as defendants. 

“The claims made in my lawsuits were the result of a complete misunderstanding, and I regret that the lawsuit caused pain to the Schlapp family,” Huffman said in a statement provided by Schlapp’s lawyers. “Neither the Schlapps nor the ACU paid me anything to dismiss my claims against them.” Only that is also slightly misleading: the settlement money was paid by the ACU’s insurer, which the ACU pays to provide liability coverage. 

Huffman offered further cryptic comments. “I am only legally allowed to say five words, and that is ‘We have resolved our differences,’” he told CNN, sounding not unlike a hostage. “Those are the only five words that I’m legally allowed to say.”  

For his part, Schlapp had said plenty that he isn’t allowed to say according to the terms of the settlement. In since-deleted posts, Schlapp celebrated his “exoneration,” claiming that he had been “cleared” of wrongdoing and that Huffman “apologized.” According to Huffman’s lawyers, the posts violated the non-disparagement clause, which is why they were quickly deleted.

“From the beginning, we asserted our innocence,” says a Schlapp tweet that remains up. “Our family was attacked by a left-wing media that is focused on the destruction of conservatives regardless of the truth and the facts.  But we emerge from this ordeal stronger as husband and wife, stronger as parents to our five daughters, stronger as friends to those who stood by us.”

The fallout from the lawsuit has left the ACU reeling internally. Last August, former executive vice president and longtime board member Charlie Gerow resigned in a blistering letter against Schlapp and the organization’s blind loyalty to him. “Tragically, for those who are encouraging Matt to ‘fight this to the end’ the costs are already staggering,” he wrote. “Earlier this year we were advised that the legal strategy of Matt’s counsel would ‘blow this case out of the water’ within thirty days. That obviously did not happen. Instead huge legal bills continue to mount.” Gerow also predicted that the lawsuit would not go to trial and end in a multi-million dollar settlement.