Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said Wednesday that he would not terminate the nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) that women signed related to allegations of a hostile work environment at his company.
The former New York mayor, a self-made billionaire and entrepreneur, runs a financial media and data company.
The five other Democratic candidates who qualified for the Las Vegas debate badgered him to release the women from the agreements.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in particular, hounded Bloomberg, asking, “Mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements so that we can hear their side of the story?”
The crowd applauded.
The Las Vegas event was the former mayor’s first in-person debate appearance of the season. He started to vie for the Democratic nomination in late November.
Bloomberg admitted that he made sexually suggestive remarks toward women in the workplace, stating, “that’s the way I grew up.” Bloomberg asserted that “none of them accuse me of doing anything, other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told.”
The Massachusetts senator would not relent, “When you say they signed them and they wanted them, if they wish now to speak out and tell their side of the story about what it is they allege, that’s now ok with you? You’re releasing them on television tonight? Is that right?”
The crowd went wild.
Bloomberg retorted, “They signed the agreements and that’s what we’re going to live with.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden joined in on the pile on with Buttigieg commenting, “You could release them now.”
Bloomberg is running an untraditional campaign. He is skipping the first four early voting states to focus on the 14 states that vote on Super Tuesday. He does not accept financial contributions.
