SENDING A MESSAGE: Trump campaign retaliates against 2016 staffer’s kissing claim.

President Trump’s campaign this week filed for arbitration against a 2016 campaign aide who claimed that the president forcibly kissed her without consent and disparaged him before dropping the case after a video of the incident showed that it was a peck on her cheek.

A source familiar with the matter told Secrets that on Monday, the Donald J. Trump for President Inc. campaign filed its claim against Alva Johnson, a 2016 Alabama outreach aide, for violating her confidentiality and nondisparagement agreement that the campaign has required staffers to sign.

The filing with the American Arbitration Association is focused on Johnson’s claims included in a U.S. District Court suit “and corresponding statements to the national news media,” said the source.

The campaign is seeking an unknown “financial restitution” from Johnson.

The claim was obviously bogus, but this is meant to send a signal that you won’t walk away unscathed after playing footsie with the press.