A powerful Republican operative and former President Donald Trump advisor is being sued by a former campaign staffer for Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker. The lawsuit claims that the male staffer was groped during a car ride from a campaign event.

The lawsuit filed in Virginia Circuit Court against Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes is based on an incident that allegedly occurred in October. The lawsuit accuses Matt Schlapp of "aggressively fondling" the staffer's "genital area in a sustained fashion" while the two were alone in a car.

The staffer, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, is seeking $9.4 million in damages from the Schlapps, saying not only did Matt Schlapp commit sexual battery, but he and his wife defamed him afterward.

The lawsuit names Mercedes Schlapp, who served as Trump's White House director of strategic communications, as guilty of defamation and conspiracy, claiming that she and Matt Schlapp coordinated a campaign to discredit the aide and his allegations.

The allegations were first reported earlier this month by The Daily Beast.

Matt Schlapp, 55, a former aide in the George W. Bush White House, rose to prominence as a staunch public defender of Trump. Growing into a political activist and lobbyist, Matt Schlapp has served as the chairman of the American Conservative Union for seven years. He and his wife lead the lobbying firm Cove Strategies, which had strong ties to the Trump administration.

Matt Schlapp met Mercedes Schlapp, 50, when both worked in the Bush administration. They married, have five daughters, and rose to become one of Washington's "it couples" during the Trump presidency.

Charlie Spies, an attorney for the couple, denied the inflammatory allegations in a statement posted on Matt Schlapp's Twitter page, saying that "the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual" and noting that the couple is "assessing counter-lawsuit options."

In a statement, the staffer's attorney Timothy Hyland said his client "takes no joy in filing this lawsuit," but that Matt Schlapp "has had ample time to accept responsibility and apologize for his despicable actions."

The staffer, identified as "John Doe," says the incident followed an event in Perry, Georgia, which is about a two-hour drive from Atlanta. According to the filing, the staffer was tasked by Walker's campaign to drive Matt Schlapp back to Atlanta, where both were staying, after the event.

After the staffer drove him back to Atlanta, Matt Schlapp invited the staffer for drinks. Matt Schlapp was alleged to have been drinking that evening.

The two ended up at a local bar, where Matt Schlapp, according to the suit, "sat unusually close" to the accuser, "such that his leg repeatedly contacted, and was in almost constant contact with Mr. Doe's leg."

Politico confirms that a small number of campaign officials were made aware of the staffer's claims about Matt Schlapp within hours of the alleged assault occurring. They advised the staffer not to get back in a vehicle with Matt Schlapp as he was scheduled to do for a campaign event in Macon, Georgia, the next day.

The next morning, the staffer sent Matt Schlapp a phone number for a private driver unaffiliated with the Walker campaign, but Matt Schlapp ultimately did not show up at the Macon rally, giving no warning of his absence, reported Politico.

The staffer alleges in his suit that he was defamed by both the Schlapps and conservative operatives aligned with them. The lawsuit includes a screenshot, supposedly of a text Mercedes Schlapp sent to a neighborhood group chat on Jan. 7, calling the accuser a "troubled individual." The text message describes the man as someone who was "fired from multiple jobs," including for "lying on his resume."

The suit states that the staffer was never fired for lying or embellishing his resume and that Mercedes Schlapp's statement was false and defamatory.

The lawsuit comes weeks before CPAC is set to host its largest annual conference in the first week of March. Two ACU board members, the organization behind CPAC, released a statement of support for Schlapp after the Daily Beast story published on Jan. 6.

"We know Matt Schlapp's heart and his character," they said. "And we believe this latest attempt at character assassination is false."

Matt Schlapp has been involved in past controversies. He made unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and in a Twitter post was critical of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which he claimed was "hostile to families, capitalism, cops, unborn life and gender." Matt Schlapp has over 411,000 followers on Twitter.

Matt Schlapp's political career began in 1994, when he served as a press secretary, campaign manager and chief of staff to former Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.

Matt Schlapp was raised in Wichita, Kansas. He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master's degree in public policy from Wichita State University.

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