Trump called this White House defender ‘wonderful.’ He was fired from his previous job for alleged sexual harassment.

The following article by Aaron C. Davis was posted on the Washington Post website August 22, 2018:

Paris Dennard, a conservative commentator recently lauded on Twitter by President Trump, speaks on the red carpet of the State of Black America town hall at the Howard Theatre in 2017 in Washington. Credit: Cheriss May, Sipa, AP

A conservative commentator who was lauded by President Trump this week as “wonderful” and who has argued that past sexual indiscretions should have no bearing on Trump’s presidency was fired from Arizona State University four years ago for making sexually explicit comments and gestures toward women, according to documents and a university official.

An internal investigation by the university concluded that Paris Dennard, a surrogate during the campaign and now a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, told a recent college graduate who worked for him that he wanted to have sex with her. He “pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures,” according to a university report obtained by The Washington Post.

According to the 2014 report, Dennard did not dispute those claims but said he committed the acts jokingly. The investigation began after the woman and a second female employee told superiors Dennard’s actions went too far and had made them uncomfortable.

View the complete article here.