Emhoff dismisses stories about his personal life as ‘a distraction’

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff dismissed scrutiny of his personal life during an interview on Friday, calling tabloid investigations into his past relationships and comments about Vice President Kamala Harris a “distraction.”

“We don’t have time to be pissed off, we don’t have time to focus on it,” Emhoff said in excerpts of an interview that will air in full Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s all a distraction. It's designed to try to get us off our game.”

Emhoff did not directly address allegations published by the Daily Mail earlier this month that he struck his then-girlfriend in public in 2012 — though the Harris campaign has denied the account in a statement to Semafor .

But it marked the first time he has acknowledged the effort by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, to amplify unflattering stories about his and Harris’ respective past relationships.

“The stakes are too high, so all that other stuff you’re talking about bounces off,” Emhoff said, insisting he and Harris have not focused on the issue. “We’re not going to let it distract us.”

The Daily Mail previously reported that Emhoff had an affair during his first marriage, years before he met Harris. Emhoff acknowledged it at the time , saying in a statement that he and his then-wife Kerstin “went through some tough times on account of my actions. I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.”

Kerstin Emhoff has since become a vocal supporter of Harris’ presidential run, aiding the campaign and appearing alongside Emhoff at the Democratic convention.

Emhoff, during the interview, also criticized Trump for refusing to debate Harris again, accusing him instead of “creating this fog of misinformation and disinformation and gaslighting rather than face her again.”

And he characterized Harris and himself as focused solely on winning the election, saying everything else has taken a back seat to the campaign.

“You’ve seen us in the before times, a lot of happy couple talk,” he said. “Right now we’re deferring that kind of happy couple time because everything we talk about right now is, what else can we be doing to win this election? Where else can we go?”