Bennett: Expects Restaurant Association Decision This Afternoon

By Chris Frates

November 4, 2011 | 12:14 PM

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Joel Bennett, the lawyer for one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment during his time as head of the National Restaurant Association said he expects the association to respond this afternoon to the woman's request to release a public statement telling her side of the story, he told National Journal in a phone interview.

The woman settled the dispute with the NRA in exchange for a cash payout and an agreement not to publicly discuss the situation. But after Cain flatly denied the allegations, Bennett came forward on the woman's behalf asking the NRA to allow the woman to tell her side of the story.

"My client is trying to respond to that and obviously does not agree with that," Bennett said of Cain's characterizations.

If the association approves the draft statement today, Bennett said he would read it at a press conference outside his Georgetown office. He will not disclose the woman's name because she does not want to become a public figure, he said.

But if the association doesn't approve the statement and wants to make edits, the negotiations over language are likely to drag into next week, Bennett said. And, if the association shoots down the idea of the woman making any statement, he will need time to discuss that with his client, he said.

"She's doing fine. She's a very intelligent well-educated woman who's trying to keep a normal life through all this. I'm sure she's eagerly awaiting a conclusion to all this. She had nothing to do with it coming out after 12 years and she's anxious to have it behind her," Bennett said.

This morning, a Super PAC supporting Cain's campaign launched an ad blaming the media for racially motivated stories that the ad calls a "high-tech lynching." Bennett told National Journal that his client is white.

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