Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders told reporters from The Daily Caller on Thursday that his previously-reported statement — that he was too busy running his presidential campaign to know about the alleged sexual harassment that took place — was untrue.
TheDC’s Amber Athey asked Sanders why he was too busy running his campaign to know about the alleged harassment outside of a Capitol Hill restaurant.
.@amber_athey just asked Bernie Sanders why he said he was too busy to pay attention to sexual harassment allegations on his campaign
“That’s not true” he says twice, and refuses to respond to @TheDCVince question of whether he paid attention to it
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) January 3, 2019
“That’s not true,” he said in response to Athey’s question and then left immediately.
Athey’s question was predicated on a comment Sanders made during a Wednesday interview with Anderson Cooper.
Sen. Bernie Sanders attends a press conference on July 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Sanders responded to Cooper’s question, saying, “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that I’m hearing from now that women felt disrespected, that there was sexual harassment which was not dealt with as effectively as possible.”
He then added, “I was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case.”
Earlier in the week, Politico obtained a letter, signed by over two dozen staffers from Sanders’ presidential campaign, that alleges a “dangerous dynamic” within the campaign. (RELATED: Over 2 Dozen Former Campaign Workers For Bernie Sanders Write Letter Describing ‘Dangerous’ Culture Of ‘Sexual Violence’ In 2016)
The alleged “dynamic” affected both men and women in positions ranging “from field organizers to some of the top officials on the 2016 campaign.”