The report was based on anonymous sources and, in one case, what the publication said was a review of documentation that described the allegations and the resolution.

Continue reading

Politico said Cain refused to comment when asked specifically about one of the woman's claims. And when asked if he had ever been accused of harassment by a woman, the publication said Cain responded by asking the reporter, "Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?"

Despite the controversy, Cain pressed ahead with his full slate of campaign appearances in Washington on Monday. At the speech at the American Enterprise Institute, he refused to answer questions about the allegations. Still, as he was leaving the stage, he stopped, turned to the crowd and talked about his sense of humor without providing any context. He said his staff tells him to be himself - or "Let Herman be Herman."

He added: "Herman is going to stay Herman."

An hour later, he was on Fox News. "If more allegations come, I assure you, people will simply make them up," Cain said. Besides his job as CEO of Godfather's Pizza, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

"What you can expect from my campaign is for me to stay on message, for us to continue to do the things and execute our strategy in order to win the nomination," Cain said.

"Obviously, some people are going to be turned off by this cloud that someone wanted to put over my campaign," he said. "But a lot of people aren't going to be turned off. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."