WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, admitted on Saturday that he had an affair during his previous marriage.
Earlier, the Daily Mail newspaper, citing sources, reported that Emhoff had an extramarital relationship with a teacher of one of his daughters. During the affair, the woman allegedly became pregnant and decided to have an abortion.
«During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through a difficult time because of my actions. I took responsibility, and we have since navigated our challenges as a family and come out stronger,» Emhoff said in a statement provided exclusively to CNN.
The circumstances of the relationship were known to US President Joe Biden's team when they were conducting background checks on vice presidential candidates. Kamala Harris was also aware of the affair, which he told her before they married in 2014, a source told CNN.
Emhoff and his ex-wife Kerstin have a good relationship, with Harris recently publicly defending Harris when Republicans began criticizing the vice president for not having children. Emhoff, 59, is a lawyer and teaches law at Georgetown University.