Former Staffer Says Lawmaker Threatened to Push Her Off Multnomah Falls

Rep. Brian Stout was removed from his House committee assignments in January soon after he arrived in Salem. He says he was framed.

pexels-photo-258108 Multnomah Falls (Creative Commons)
By Anthony Effinger

The woman accusing Rep. Brian Stout (R- Columbia City) of sexual assault took the stand in a hearing March 29 to determine whether a five-year sexual abuse protective order against Stout should stay in place.

The woman, a volunteer on one of Stout’s campaigns, said the two of them agreed to have an intimate relationship in 2020. According to the Columbia County Spotlight, the woman testified that Stout told her: “By the way, if you ever tell anyone about this, we will walk to Multnomah Falls and I will push you over the cliff.”

On the first day of the hearing, held Jan. 13, Stout denied he had sexually abused the woman on any of five occasions she detailed in her Nov. 7 petition for the protective order, calling her accounts “flat-out lies.” The hearing is scheduled to continue April 25.

Stout was removed from his House committee assignments in January soon after he arrived in Salem.

Nicholas Herman, Stout’s attorney, says, “Mr. Stout looks forward to being vindicated through a dismissal of the sham restraining order after the hearing is completed.”

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