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NC House speaker admits to 'casual' relationship; says woman was separated from husband

House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) talks with reporters.
Rusty Jacobs
/
WUNC
House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) talks with reporters.

North Carolina Republican House Speaker Tim Moore acknowledged in an interview with WBTV Tuesday that he had a “casual relationship” with Jamie Liles Lassiter, a married state employee, who Moore says was separated from her husband.

Moore denied allegations in a lawsuit by Lassiter’s estranged husband that he used his political power to start or continue the relationship. He said he strongly denied those allegations in a meeting with Republican House members, calling them utterly false.

"But I also told them that when it came to Ms. Lassiter that she’s separated, I’m a divorced man and that we had had a casual relationship for time," Moore told WBTV. "About the situation in December that was alleged where we had dinner together, we did, where we spent time together thereafter. And then were I actually met with her estranged husband a few days later where I acknowledged to him the same thing as well, as well as my understanding that they were in fact separated."

Jamie Liles Lassiter’s husband, Scott Lassiter, filed an “alienation of affection” lawsuit against Moore on Sunday.

He claims that Moore used his power to entice his wife into a relationship and it was “more than the ordinary dalliance of an unfaithful spouse and an unscrupulous paramour.”

Scott Lassiter claims in his lawsuit that Moore and Jamie Liles Lassiter had an affair for more than three years. Moore was not asked in the interview when the affair began or how long the Lassiters have been separated.

The lawsuit also claims that Moore hired or asked someone to place a camera in front of Scott Lassiter’s house earlier this month. Moore said he never did that.

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Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.