‘It’s total BS’: Matt Schlapp’s mother defends her son against groping allegation

Former Wichita City Council member Sue Schlapp adamantly defended her son Matt Schlapp against accusations of sexual battery while speaking to a Republican women’s group.

Matt Schlapp, the influential chair of the American Conservative Union, has been accused in a lawsuit of groping a man who worked for Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker while the staffer was driving Schlapp back to his Atlanta hotel last October.

“There’s nothing that’s more devastating than being the mother of somebody who’s falsely accused,” Sue Schlapp, 82, told attendees at a Republican Women United meeting in Wichita on Saturday.

Matt Schlapp, a longtime ally and adviser to former President Donald Trump, has filed court documents formally denying the assault.

In her speech, titled “Future of the Republican Party: A Mother’s Perspective,” Schlapp reflected on her time growing up as a Democrat in New York and criticized divisiveness in national politics, casting her son as a victim who has been unfairly targeted for championing conservative values.

“Any of you who knows my son knows that it’s total BS,” Schlapp said.

“He has built the largest conservative organization in the world, and because of that, as you know, as Republicans, you become the enemy of others.”

Carlton Huffman, the career Republican strategist accusing Schlapp of battery and defamation, is seeking $9.4 million in damages. Huffman initially filed the lawsuit anonymously, citing privacy concerns and fear of retaliation, but an Alexandria, Virginia, judge ruled Huffman’s identity must be revealed for the suit to proceed.

“He was involved in Georgia working for Walker, and the gentleman that was given to him as a driver has been spreading a story and now sued him for nine and a half million dollars for defamation,” Sue Schlapp said. “I think that’s fascinating. Who defamated [sic] who? But that is what happens with defamation and the monkey business that he claims happened.”

Matt Schlapp has hired attorney Benjamin Chew, who successfully represented Johnny Depp in a 2022 defamation lawsuit, and who has filed a response to Huffman’s complaint stating that “any alleged injuries” the aide sustained did not come from Schlapp “but instead were caused by Plaintiff’s own negligence, conduct, actions, or inactions, or were the result of other alternative causes, or a combination thereof.”

“He may have to pay something financially just to get everybody off his back,” Sue Schlapp said. “Sometimes you have to do that if you’re going to carry on with your world. It’s not admitting guilt but it is saying ‘I’m busy. I’ve got to carry on here. Take this.’”

She said her son’s professional standing has been damaged by Huffman’s accusations.

“The American Conservative Union is nervous about him,” Schlapp said.

“They support him. They want him. But they’re a little afraid of him. Fox News, which he used to be on all the time, has made it quite clear they don’t want somebody who’s been sued to be on their channel.”

Schlapp has so far received the support of many prominent Republicans, including Trump, who shared a stage with him at a Conservative Political Action Conference fundraiser two days after the assault claim surfaced.

“Knowing my son, he will never back down,” Sue Schlapp said.

She also read a statement from Mercedes Schlapp, the former Trump White House communications director who married Matt Schlapp after they met while both working in George W. Bush’s administration.

“Pray for the country, pray for the children and pray for the families. The country is headed down the wrong path, and we need Americans of all ages to save this nation before it’s too late,” the statement read.