but that's what members of the national restaurant association should have to do. etain your business, if dawn sweeney continues to let herman cain hide behind their confidentiality agreements. joining me now is chris frats, lobbying correspondent for the national journal. thanks for joining me tonight. >> good to be back with you. >> chris, is the national restaurant association feeling any heat from this yet? >> well, i think they are being very cautious in how they approach this whole thing. it's been only statements, they're not really having a lot of conversations with the press. they're telling you exactly what they want you to see in very carefully-worded statements. you read one of those. i think they're trying to figure out what legally they can do. it's an interesting position they're in. these kinds of things are fairly routine, companies and associations all the time pay to settle disputes among employers and their management. this has gotten the spotlight of a presidential campaign which is a little bit unique for this situation. >> just to put some sco

we have the reaction from the national restaurant association. she stands by what she alleged back in 1999. she could go public. the nra, the national restaurant association, is ready to waive the confidentiality agreement but she doesn't want any publicity. >> well, and what's interesting about what joel bennett, her attorney, is saying is not only in addition to there being several instances that it was inappropriate behavior and unwanted advances. and it's clear if you do the math that she was a married woman at the time, she's been married 26 years. this happened in 1999. when you look at the restaurant association statement, which is clearly written very carefully as well, it allowed that there had been an internal investigation, that herman cain had disputed the allegations in the complaint and that they entered into an agreement without any admission of liability. herman cain has come out and said publicly in his own defense that he was essentially cleared internally of any wrong doing or any sexual harassment. the statement from the nation

>> the national restaurant association -- not the national rifle association. l restaurant association. he says my attorney and is referring to the general counsel for the national restaurant association peter kilgore. the other point yesterday was the head of h.r. at the national restaurant association, he recused himself to let this person get involved. you heard ken vogel say they checked with h.r. and the person running h.r. at the national restaurant association said this was all news to that person. we'll continue to do reporting on this part of the story. what do you think of mr. cain in the interview? you had a chance to size him up, ask him really good questions. >> thank you. he was in d.c. and i'm in atlanta. i asked my team, see what he looks like. is he in a bad mood, a good mood, but the herman cain the voters and viewers needed to know was the guy who came in this morning ready to answer questions. i take it he was really ready to do some damage control. maybe we got answers on some things, but i feel we still have a lot of questions that did not

politico followed up the original reporting with information about the national restaurant association and its decision not to endorse herman cain's candidacy. what did you learn? >> well, there was discussion within the national restaurant association where herman cain is remembered fondly and supported by many members as whether or not to give an endorsement to their former ceo. that revived a bunch of stories and a bunch of controversies that have been dormant for, as you say, anderson, a dozen years, with some people saying, wait a minute. we are not so sure we want to be out there on that particular limb. >> because of these allegations? >> a contributing factor, that's correct. and that may well have been a contributing factor of why this sprang to life. >> there's been a lot of criticism of your reporting. there was a tough article calling to question the reporting on the story, basically saying there weren't enough details in the story and ones about the settlement agreements. you have reportedly seen at least some of the documents. why not report the specifics, how much the pa

that is the political reality you and the restaurant association are facing. the nationaltaurant association spends its day lobbying congress against increasing in the minimum wage among other legislative interests that restaurant and hotel business has. the national restaurant association knows that they would pay an extreme and immediate political price for suing you for telling the truth about what happens in the washington headquarters of the national restaurant association. they know that if they sue you, they will not be allowed to set foot in at least half of the offices in the united states senate and a couple of hundred offices in the house of representatives. they know practical politics and representing the interests of their members means they absolutely cannot afford to sue you. they also know their legal prospect of success with a washington, d.c. jury are close to zero. you women have nothing to fear anymore in herman cain, nothing. you women have nothing to fear anymore in the national restaurant association. you swrim nothing to fear in those confidentiali

> it sounds kind of consistent with some of the things that we've heard, that this is an association, the national restaurant association, that by definition is centered around the hospitality industry. we've heard a lot about some of these afterwork gatherings. some of the gatherings at the national restaurant association convention. there was a lot of alcohol involved. and there are sort of tales that have come out of that. we're trying to track them down. the "associated press" in this case with this particular woman tracked down a particular tale in which the woman says herman cain invited her back to his apartment, his corporate paid apartment in crystal city, virginia, and made her feel extremely uncomfortable that she thought about filing a formal sexual harassment complaint but decided not to because she began to have less dealings with him at the national restaurant association. so we are also working on details trying to flush out some details of an earlier incident that we reported, a national restaurant association convention in chicago in the late '90s. i think there are a number of m

now that her attorney has made contact with the national restaurant association, which cain once led. the other shoe may soon drop for herman cain. the attorney for a woman who accused cain of sexual harassment has contacted the national restaurant association. joel bennett says his client wants to speak out and would like the association to release her from the contract she signed. >> naturally, she's been very upset about this since the story broke last sunday because mr. cain has been giving the impression as though she's someone who made false allegations and that's certainly not true. >> bennett says his client got a settlement against cain. he describes his client add married, highly intelligence. asks whether she's politically active -- >> i have no knowledge. she's a current employee of the federal government. >> by most indications, bennett's clients is not the same woman who "the new york times" reports got $35,000, a year's salary and severance pay after an encounter with cain. that could be the person cain described as someone who worked as a writer in the 1990s. of that w

sexually harassed by herman cain back in the 1990s, late 1990s, when he was head of the national restaurant association will be the first person to give her name, speak out publicly. details of what she alleges occurred between her and herman cain when he headed the national restaurant association. we're standing by to hear what gloria allred and her client have to say. let's bring back gloria and jeffrey who are watching what's unfolding as well. give us a little background, jeffrey. i don't know if you know gloria allred personally, certainly our viewers probably do because whenever a case like this emerges, she almost always is involved. she has a client who plays a role. >> yes, and i have to say, full disclosure gloria is an old friend of mine, as many of our viewers know, lisa bloom who is a well known television legal analyst here at cnn, lisa bloom is gloria's daughter. so gloria is someone i've known for a long time. gloria is a very serious family n -- feminist and she came into prominence in california filing some of the very first sex discrimination cases. famous case she was involved in wa

was clearly inappropriate behavior that clearly crossed the line in a way that led the national restaurant association to pay her money. and let's bear in mind, there were at least two women that the national restaurant association reportedly paid money to. you don't do that just because the chairman or ceo has made some perhaps offensive comments in passing. you do that because there is a pattern of conduct that is clearly questionable, and over the days and weeks to come, herman cain will have to contend with those charges coming out hour by hour or day by day, because he's done nothing to lay them to rest. >> are we sure there are two cases called settlements or agreements? or there is just one? do you know for sure there was a second one? >> i believe there were two women to woman money was paid. >> the ranks of herman's public accusers grew by one. karen kraushaar, who works as a spokeswoman for the treasury department told "the new york times" that she was coming forward, her name had been leaked to several news organizations. one of the two women who settled sexual harassment allegations agains

according to the ap, the woman worked for the national restaurant association, aka, the national restaurantiation while cain was the ceo. she considered her behavior to be, quote, aggressive and unwanted. end quote. the woman says cain told her he confided to colleagues how attractive she was and he would invite her to his corporate apartment outside of work. meanwhile, the "new york times" reveals the nra gave one of the two women who made the allegations $35,000 in severance pay. according to the times that equaled a full year salary for the woman. and they said she was made uncomfortable by an encounter with cain. an encounter with cain. i like that. cain was eager to answer questions after a meeting in virginia. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> don't even bother. >> it is a good question though about the confidentially. gite fact that these women -- >> what did i say? >> excuse me. excuse me! >> i guess eager means not that into it. sorry about that. rick, glad to have you back on the show. it has been a longtime, not long enough. >> thanks. >> i believe there is a fourth allegation

national association of school psychologists, the national association of secondary school principals, the national black child development institute, the national partnership for women and families, the national school boards association, school association of america, youth build u.s.a., the ywca, the aids alliance for children, youth and family, the alliance for educational excellence, the association of education service agencies. i ask unanimous consent, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection? mr. nadler: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now yield the gentleman from illinois four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for four minutes. mr. jackson: i thank you, mr. speaker. mr. spear, i like my good friend from virginia to engage me in a dialogue on a series of questions. the most important question to be raised with respect to the b.b.a. at least for me, and i believe most americans, is how does the balanced budget amendment narrow certain gaps that are obvious in our societ

it's to authorize the national restaurant association to release these files. obviously, if the woman involved in the complaint or agreement or settlement or whatever it's being called is coming forth, then that shouldn't be a problem to have that out there. that's not what this was about tonight. it was raising the level of the denials to this extraordinary sweeping claim. this really wasn't about resolving the truth. >> howard, you have to go, i hear. tell me where this story moves to now in terms of, does it go the who did it, what did he do further witness question, or does it go to the political track of, is this going to stand up in the debate tomorrow night, the cnbc debate? will it become a part of the political narrative? >> i think it will be both, but i think it will still be factual. as eugene said, he asserted flatly that he didn't know this woman. my understanding is that there is a picture or video of her greeting him at some event a month ago. i haven't seen that video, but depending on how it looks, whether he has a quizzical look like who the

on the restaurant association to waive the waiver or whatever the deal is with the settlement so the women who apparently want to talk about it can? >> that is totally up to the national restaurant association, bret. >> bret: last thing. another thing that is getting a lot of attention this monday interview in which candidate mr. cain was talking about china. and said this about nuclear capability. if you look at the sound bite, what was. >> he was referring to the nuclear capability that china was getting for their, submarines and aircraft carriers. >> bret: not that they didn't have a nuclear capability? >> exactly. >> bret: what happens from here? >> well, hopefully this becomes not the story of the hour. the story of the day. and we can get on campaigning. getting mr. cain's vision for america across to the voters. you know, i've been asked, bret, did this have a detrimental effect on our campaign. i think if you take a look at the poll numbers that have come out in the last 24 hours, we've either maintained or increased his intensity factor has gone up. and we have had our best fundraising day yet, yesterday, that we had in the campaign. obviously, it's not hurti

they received monetary settlements from the national restaurant association. she worked at the treasury department, a career civil servant and registered republican though she did give $250 to the democratic national commit in 2009. today cain said he did remember her and identified her as the only woman he remembers any kind of encounter with, one he calls totally innocent. >> i can only recall one thing that i was aware of that was called sexual harassment. the one thing that i remember that i remembered during the day when all of this broke loose is that one day in my office at the national restaurant association, i was standing next to ms. kraushaar and i gestured standing near her like this, you're the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin. that was the one gesture that i remember. >> herman cain painting a very g-rated encounter with kraushaar and adding that her allegations were found baseless and the money paid her was a part of a termination agreement, not some kind of claim settlement. >> when the firestorm started a week ago mond

the general counsel for the national restaurant association got involved together with other executives at the national restaurant association, and he simply walked away from it. but today he did disclose -- i guess he had been thinking a lot about it, remembering all his own details. i think he said my lawyer was negotiating with her lawyer, and the settlement money went down, down, down. so he's getting more information. more is coming up. and now all of a sudden, we're learning one of those lawyers was directly involved in trying to reach some sort of agreement with this woman. is that your reading, robin, as well? >> you could read that two ways because my lawyer and her lawyer, i would consider people at my company to be my lawyer, too. do you know what i mean? so did he mean that or did he mean what he said? we could ask that about the whole situation. did he mean what lawyer. but even if he recused himself, he had to walk a. the amount of money this woman was speaking was going down, down, down, and her lawyer was suggesting there wasn't enough corroborating evidence. one thing i

if she decides to speak and does that, the restaurant association would seek an injunction or penalize her, most unlikely? >> the national restaurant association is not the center of national political controversy. i cannot believe they are pleased to be in this position. they want less attention rather than more attention, and they are sitting around presumably thinking, how do we get out of this thing without getting our name dragged through the mud? last thing they want to do is file some lawsuit which would only guarantee much, much more publicity. >> jeff toobin, helping us work out legal issues tonight. word of two sexual harassment allegations and two cash payments by the restaurant association surfaced as mr. cain emerged as force in the republican race. he's leading most national polls and in first or second in most of the key early primary and caucus states. the crisis could impact that because cain's explanations have been inconsistent. first, for example, he said he was not aware of any financial settlements with two accusers. >> as far as a settlement, i am unaware of any sort of settlement. i hope it wasn't

also, the associated press reports a third woman emerged tell national restaurant association. we're also learning details of the one of the first two incidents that ended in financial settlements. they come from chris wilson, a former colleague who witnessed he says one of the incidents and spoke about it today to gloria borger and ktok. >> i'll tell you at the time she was a very lower level staffer. i think she was maybe two years out of college and this all occurreded at a restaurant in crystal city and everybody was very aware of it and so it was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place and her situation and the fact she left after this. it was a -- everybody knew what the campaign -- that this would eventually come up. >> chris wilson is a rick perry supporter. gloria borger joins us shortly. that's not all, though. on top of all of that according to forbes.com cain is blaming another campaign operative. a 2004 campaign adviser now working for rick perry for sparking this whole mess but keep in mind cain's accusation directly contradicts

and the national restaurant association's outside councseco. it was a settlement satisfactory to both sides and my client left the employ of the national restaurant association. second, i have never seen any findings on the complaint that she filed, so no body of evidence has ever been presented to me that her complaints were baseless. >> now -- so you have never seen any determination by anyone saying it was baseless, and you used the term that you and your client signed a settlement. now, if you might have saw mr. cain's press conference, he said that there was not a settlement, but an agreement. you are saying it was, in fact, a settlement, which meant her leaving and the payment was based on the accusation that was and you your client's understanding, not just based on some employment agreement. >> that is correct. >> so what you are saying is totally the opposite of what was represented by mr. cain at his press conference? >> that is correct. >> now, the other thing i want to ask then is if mr. cain is -- is saying something totally opposit