Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s former male campaign aide has dropped his assault lawsuit against Matt Schlapp, a prominent conservative organizer.
Carlton Huffman, the GOP operative in question, filed a $9.4 million suit last year against Mr. Schlapp and his wife Mercedes for the alleged cause of intimate battery and defamation. The lawsuit specifically accused Schalpp of inappropriately touching Mr. Huffman while the par shared a car in October 2022.
The incident in question is said to have occurred when the plaintiff was assigned to Schlapp as a driver, ferrying him to a Perry, GA campaign event for Herschel Walker. During outing, Schlapp allegedly invited Huffman out for drinks, and it was on the ride back from this engagement that the inappropriate contact is said to have happened.
The following morning, Huffman went to senior campaign officials to inform them about the incident. The officials offered Huffman support and found a new driver to transport Schlapp thereafter.
Ironically, in the months following his filing of the lawsuit, Huffman was, himself, accused of misconduct. A 19 year-old woman and a 22 year-old woman both alleged that the Republican operative behaved towards them in a similar manner as Huffman had alleged Schlapp had behaved towards him.
Upon withdrawal of his lawsuit, Huffman said that the claims in the filing stemmed from a tragic misunderstanding. He added, through a spokesperson, that he regrets the pain that his lawsuit caused to Schlapp and his family. His statement further expresses regret for the misunderstanding that provoked public comments from Schlapp that Huffman had previously characterized as “defamatory.” He confirmed that neither the ACU or Schlapp paid him to dismiss the lawsuit, and that he took the action independently.
Schlapp is the head of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the high-profile CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event. His wife Mercedes acted as the White House communications director from 2017 to 2019 during the Trump administration.
