Woman goes on the record alleging Halperin sexual harassment

A former researcher who worked alongside Mark Halperin at ABC News has detailed allegations of sexual harassment against the veteran journalist.

Dianna May told The Washington Post that Halperin pressured her into sitting on his lap during a private meeting in his office in 1994.

May alleges there were multiple incidents, and that she feared that refusing Halperin would be detrimental to her career.

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“I didn’t know what to do,” May, who has since left the industry, told the newspaper. “He was important. He wasn’t my superior, but he was certainly in a superior position to mine. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know how to at the time. I knew it was wrong.”

“It was gross,” she added. “He’s gross. He’s gross.”

May is the second woman to publicly accuse Halperin of sexual harassment. Emily Miller, a reporter for One America News Network, claimed Wednesday that Halperin “sexually assaulted” her when she worked at ABC News.

“I did not report Halperin to ABC because I thought I was the only one, and I blamed myself, and I was embarrassed and I was scared of him,” Miller wrote on Twitter.

Multiple unidentified women accused Halperin of sexual harassment in a CNN report published Wednesday night. Halperin apologized for his conduct in a statement issued to CNN on Wednesday.

“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” Halperin said. “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain.”

“I will take a step pack from my day-to-day work while I properly address the situation,” he added.

NBC and MSNBC released a statement saying that Halperin would leave his role as a contributor in the wake of the allegations, while Penguin Press announced Thursday that it would cancel plans to publish Halperin’s upcoming book on the 2016 election.

“Mark Halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood,” the statement from NBC read.

HBO also released a statement Thursday saying it is cancelling plans for an upcoming movie adaptation of the yet-to-be released book.