The Hill News

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel denied any connection to pushing a report that Herman Cain engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with a number of women.

Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, is responding to a report in The Washington Times that said "a friend" of the Cain campaign thinks a National Restaurant Association employee got the information regarding the sexual harassment accusations from the Chicago mayor's office, then leaked it to Rick Perry's presidential campaign.

"This story is patently false," Emanuel spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said Thursday, according to NBC Chicago. "He will not be taking questions on the topic."

Cain has been strongly denying reports that he s! exually harassed a number of women while he served as president of the National Restaurant Association.

More recently, Cain has accused Perry's campaign of leaking the story, while the Texas governor's presidential campaign has pointed to Mitt Romney's camp.

Both the Perry and Romney campaigns have denied any involvement.