Second husband Doug Emhoff turned heads again during an MSNBC interview late last week when he did not directly deny a previous report claiming he physically struck an ex-girlfriend, instead calling the story a “distraction.”

Emhoff was asked about reports from DailyMail.com reporting that he hit his ex-girlfriend some years ago, reports that have not been picked up by most other outlets.

Second husband Doug Emhoff turned heads again during an MSNBC interview late last week when he did not directly deny a previous report claiming he physically struck an ex-girlfriend, instead calling the story a “distraction.”

Emhoff was asked about reports from DailyMail.com reporting that he hit his ex-girlfriend some years ago, reports that have not been picked up by most other outlets.

“[Trump’s] spreading it about you, saying that tabloid stories about your personal life. He’s saying it should be front and center. He’s saying it about your wife and making incredibly crude and lewd suggestions about her past life. I’m just curious, I know I seem like a very zen, mindful person, but I think I’d be pissed off, and I’m just wondering, how do you all stay centered, how do you stay disciplined and not really go off and not really push back hard at these things?” MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough asked.

“We don’t have time to be p***ed off,” Emhoff responded without denying the report. “We don’t have time to focus on it. It’s all a distraction. It’s designed to try to get us off our game.”

“Does it get you off your game?” Scarborough replied.

“No. All we are doing – all we talk about – is this election,” Emhoff said.

“We understand the stakes, we understand the responsibility,” he added. “Our very country, our future – what kind of future are we going to have, who would you like picking the next three Supreme Court justices? The guy who picked the three who overturned Roe v. Wade and want to take away more freedom?”