Glenn Thrush, the left-wing White House correspondent for the New York Times, has been put on suspension over several allegations of sexual misconduct.
One allegation involves Thrush abandoning a young woman after she resisted his unwanted sexual advances. After sharing some drinks, the woman’s night “ended on a Washington street corner, where Thrush left her in tears after she resisted his advances.”
The young woman ordered an Uber — the receipt shows it was about 11 pm — and says she planned to call [her friend] Padró Ocasio back once inside the car. In the few minutes she waited, she said, Thrush walked back over to her and started to kiss her again. She began to cry. When Thrush saw, he abruptly walked off, waving his hand flippantly, and left her alone to wait for her ride, she said.
According to Vox, they have screesnhots (which are posted in the article) of text messages between Thrush and this young woman’s friend Ocasio from the next day.
“I want to make sure you don’t lure young women aspiring journalists into those situations ever again,” she wrote. “So help me out here. How can I do that?” Thrush replied, “I don’t lure anybody ever,” he wrote, adding, “I got drunk because I got some shitty health news. And I am acutely aware of the hurdles that young women face in this business and have spent the better part of 20 years advocating for women journalists.”
Using the language of the “woke” male feminist, the 50 year-old Thrush added, “What I need to be is more understanding of the power dynamics in casual situations.”
A separate allegation comes directly from the Vox reporter who broke this story, Laura McGann, who claims that “five years ago, when Thrush and I were colleagues at Politico, I was in the same bar as Padró Ocasio’s friend — perhaps the same booth — when he caught me off guard, put his hand on my thigh, and suddenly started kissing me. Thrush says that he recalls the incident differently.”
Other allegations range from “unwanted groping and kissing to wet kisses out of nowhere to hazy sexual encounters that played out under the influence of alcohol.”
Vox adds, “Details of their stories suggest a pattern. All of the women were in their 20s at the time. They were relatively early in their careers compared to Thrush, who was the kind of seasoned journalist who would be good to know.”
Another part of the alleged pattern is that at events with “alcohol, he made advances. Afterward, they (as I did) thought it best to stay on good terms with Thrush, whatever their feelings.”
McGann adds that in the days following Thrush grabbing her thigh (she says she was wearing a skirt at the time) and kissing her without her consent, he sent her an apologetic email that did not specify what he was apologizing for (she did not keep a copy but did publish a similar email from Thrush to another woman) and then, in her opinion, started to disparage her at the Politico offices. “Gradually, things in the office started to change for me. … I had a nagging sense that I just wasn’t as respected as I used to be.”
On November 19, Thrush denied he disparaged McGann or that their encounter was not consensual. McGann. however, has a source who claims “the day after that night at the bar, Thrush told him about the incident, except with the roles reversed. I had come onto him, the reporter said Thrush told him, and he had gently shut it down.”
This sources also claims Thrush did the same to a number of young women.
Vox reports that Thrush’s reputation got so bad, incoming young women working as interns were immediately warned to keep their distance.
It is no secret that the left-wing Politico has long been considered a workplace hostile to women.
Thrush was hired by the New York Times in December of 2016, even after WikiLeaks revealed that while posing as an objective journalist he worked closely with Clinton campaign chief John Podesta to approve his stories.
The Times says it is investigating the sexual misconduct allegations.
Vox itself is dealing with staffers accused of sexual harassment.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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