Roberts' legal settlements over sex assault claims become issue in race
Two weeks ago, Missouri state Sen. Steve Roberts Jr., who is mounting a Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, released the legal settlement he’d reached with a former state official who’d publicly accused him of rape. Roberts surely hoped to get out from under the claims that had dogged him in 2017 — and which, after the recent death of his accuser, former Missouri Rep. Cora Faith Walker, increasingly became an issue for his campaign.
But Roberts’ move appeared to backfire when a second accuser, Amy Harms, released Roberts’ once-confidential settlement with her — showing Roberts’ insurance company had paid Harms $100,000 after she accused him of groping her at a bar.