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Bloomberg Says He’s Willing to Release 3 Women From Nondisclosure Agreements Bloomberg, in Reversal, Says He’ll Release 3 Women From Nondisclosure Agreements
(about 2 hours later)
LAS VEGAS — Michael R. Bloomberg said Friday that he was willing to release three women from nondisclosure agreements with his company so they could discuss their complaints about him publicly — reversing himself after he resisted doing so while under fire from his rivals at this week’s Democratic presidential debate. LAS VEGAS — Michael R. Bloomberg said Friday that he was willing to release three women from nondisclosure agreements with his company so they could discuss their complaints about him publicly, reversing himself from his position at this week’s Democratic presidential debate when he came under fire from his rivals for resisting such a move.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, Mr. Bloomberg, who is also the former mayor of New York, said officials at Bloomberg L.P. had identified three nondisclosure agreements made with women related to “complaints about comments they said I had made.” In a statement released Friday afternoon, Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said officials at Bloomberg L.P. had identified three nondisclosure agreements made with women related to “complaints about comments they said I had made.”
“If any of them want to be released from their N.D.A. so that they can talk about those allegations, they should contact the company and they’ll be given a release,” Mr. Bloomberg said in the statement. “I’ve done a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days and I’ve decided that for as long as I’m running the company, we won’t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward.” “If any of them want to be released from their NDA so that they can talk about those allegations, they should contact the company and they’ll be given a release,” Mr. Bloomberg said in the statement. “I’ve done a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days and I’ve decided that for as long as I’m running the company, we won’t offer confidentiality agreements to resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct going forward.”
But the carefully worded statement by Mr. Bloomberg did not appear to release all former employees of his media and technology company from such agreements. For instance, it did not say he would allow former employees to speak out if they had signed nondisclosure agreements after complaining of harassment from any person other than Mr. Bloomberg. But the statement by Mr. Bloomberg did not appear to release all former employees of his media and technology company from such agreements. For instance, it did not say he would allow people to speak out if they had signed nondisclosure agreements after complaining of harassment from any person other than Mr. Bloomberg.
Mr. Bloomberg made the announcement after facing withering criticism from Democratic rivals in the debate on Wednesday, most notably from Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The reversal on the nondisclosure agreements came as Mr. Bloomberg’s Democratic rivals campaigned in Nevada on the final day before the state’s caucuses on Saturday. Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., knocked on doors in the Las Vegas area seeking votes, and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. joined a cookout and precinct captain training with supportive union members in Las Vegas, where he emphasized his longstanding support for labor. Senator Bernie Sanders campaigned in California amid the disclosure that he had recently been briefed by intelligence officials on Russian efforts to aid him in the Democratic primary race.
“We need to know is exactly what’s lurking out there,” Ms. Warren said, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Bloomberg on the stage in Las Vegas. “He has gotten some number of women, dozens, who knows, to sign nondisclosure agreements both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.” Mr. Bloomberg, who is skipping the first four nominating states and will join the race on Super Tuesday on March 3, faced scathing criticism from his rivals at the debate on Wednesday about his refusal to release women from nondisclosure agreements. Senator Elizabeth Warren confronted him with the question: “So, Mr. Mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those nondisclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story?’’ Mr. Bloomberg said he was not.
Following the debate on Tuesday, allies of Mr. Bloomberg had grown particularly concerned about the issue and Mr. Bloomberg’s response, which was garbled at times and seemingly flippant at others.
“None of them accuse me of doing anything, other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told,” Mr. Bloomberg responded, amid groans from the audience. “There’s agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that’s up to them. They signed those agreements, and we’ll live with it.”“None of them accuse me of doing anything, other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told,” Mr. Bloomberg responded, amid groans from the audience. “There’s agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that’s up to them. They signed those agreements, and we’ll live with it.”
The harsh questioning seemed to fluster the mayor, whose debate performance was largely panned, and top aides took responsibility for poorly preparing the candidate.The harsh questioning seemed to fluster the mayor, whose debate performance was largely panned, and top aides took responsibility for poorly preparing the candidate.
Ms. Warren continued to criticize the mayor this week, including during a CNN town hall program on Thursday. Ms. Warren, who used to teach contract law, presented a “release and covenant not to sue” document that she said would free the people bound by the nondisclosure agreements to speak. Ms. Warren said on Friday that Mr. Bloomberg’s decision was “just not good enough.”
The mayor’s inability to answer some questions on the debate stage also drew criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who said in an interview released Friday that he was surprised by how unprepared Mr. Bloomberg seemed in the debate, and predicted that President Trump would “chew him up and spit him out” in a general-election debate if he won the nomination. “Michael Bloomberg needs to do a blanket release so that all women who have been muzzled by nondisclosure agreements can step up and tell their side of the story in terms of what Michael Bloomberg has done,” she told reporters after stopping for a “beef taco” as she campaigned across the city.
In an excerpt from the interview, recorded Thursday and set to be broadcast on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night, the correspondent Anderson Cooper asked Mr. Sanders whether he was surprised by Mr. Bloomberg’s struggles to answer “some very basic, obvious questions.” Mr. Sanders, the Democratic primary’s current front-runner, said he was. She took particular issue with Mr. Bloomberg limiting the release to just three cases. “If there are only 3, then why didn’t he sign a blanket release?” she said. “If he’s limiting the number, then you can’t know whether there were 3 or 30 or 300. And that should not be in the control of Michael Bloomberg.”
“If that’s what happened in a Democratic debate,” he added, “you know, I — I think it’s quite likely that Trump will chew him up and spit him out.” The campaign of Joseph R. Biden Jr. also condemned the move, saying, “Today’s release essentially tells the public nothing — we don’t know how many women signed these NDAs, what percentage of NDAs this represents, or what categories of signed NDAs exist that are excluded.’’
Asked whether he was less worried about Mr. Bloomberg as a rival for the nomination after his debate performance, Mr. Sanders turned the question around and renewed his attack on Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign spending from his personal fortune. One of the three women who is being released from her agreement is Sekiko Sakai Garrison, a former saleswoman at Bloomberg L.P., a Bloomberg campaign aide said on Friday. Ms. Garrison sued the company in 1997, describing a misogynistic workplace atmosphere that culminated, according to the suit, in Mr. Bloomberg reacting negatively upon learning that she was pregnant.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Bloomberg told Ms. Garrison, “Kill it,” referring to her baby. When Ms. Garrison sought clarity, Mr. Bloomberg allegedly went on to complain about the number of female employees in his office who had become pregnant, according to the suit. Mr. Bloomberg has denied making that remark, and the company eventually settled with Ms. Garrison and issued no admission of guilt.
Ms. Garrison declined to comment on Friday.
The Bloomberg campaign aide said that the two other nondisclosure agreements stemmed from complaints within the company, rather than from lawsuits. The aide declined to provide additional details about the identity of the two women.
Mr. Bloomberg has a history of making demeaning, derogatory and sexist remarks, and lawsuits have painted his company, in the early days, as something resembling a frat house.
In one suit, filed in 1997, a former employee alleged that Mr. Bloomberg reacted to learning of her pregnancy by telling her to “kill it” and grumbling about the number of pregnant women at his company. Mr. Bloomberg denied making the remark and the case was settled with no admission of guilt.
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The decision by Mr. Bloomberg to limit the N.D.A. release only those pertaining to his personal interaction drew widespread criticism from civil rights groups and activists.
“It’s a start, it’s at least an acknowledgment that N. D. As are inappropriate, but it’s not nearly enough because a leader leads and he is the leader of Bloomberg LP,” said Julie Roginsky, one of the co-founders of Lift Our Voices, a nonprofit group that works to end nondisclosure agreements that deal with workplace environment issues. “There’s no reason the chairman is protecting predators at his own company.”
Ms. Roginsky said that two women had recently contacted Lift Our Voices and confirmed that they have nondisclosure agreements for toxic workplace and harassment complaints with top executives at the company who are not Mr. Bloomberg.
The group also said that the process Mr. Bloomberg created — requiring a request to be released — also made it more unlikely that women would come forward.
“His saying that the women should come to him to be released is not the way that it should be handled,” said Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor and another co-founder of Lift Our Voices. “They should just have a statement saying ‘you are released.’”
The mayor’s debate performance also drew criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who said in an interview released Friday that he was surprised by how unprepared Mr. Bloomberg seemed onstage and predicted that President Trump would “chew him up and spit him out” in a general-election debate if he won the nomination.
Asked by Anderson Cooper of CBS’s “60 Minutes” whether he was less worried about Mr. Bloomberg as a rival for the nomination after the debate, Mr. Sanders turned the question around and renewed his attack on Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign spending from his personal fortune.
“I am worried about an unprecedented amount of money being spent on a campaign,” Mr. Sanders said. “And — you know, we’ve never seen anything like this in American history. And I just think, though, that the American people will rebel against this type of oligarchic movement. We are a democracy. One person, one vote. Not a guy worth $60 billion buying an election.”“I am worried about an unprecedented amount of money being spent on a campaign,” Mr. Sanders said. “And — you know, we’ve never seen anything like this in American history. And I just think, though, that the American people will rebel against this type of oligarchic movement. We are a democracy. One person, one vote. Not a guy worth $60 billion buying an election.”
Though Mr. Bloomberg is not competing in the Nevada caucuses this weekend, he has been rising in national polls and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to boost his candidacy. And despite having amassed no pledged delegates to this point, his campaign has called on other candidates to exit the race so that he can run head-to-head against Mr. Sanders.Though Mr. Bloomberg is not competing in the Nevada caucuses this weekend, he has been rising in national polls and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to boost his candidacy. And despite having amassed no pledged delegates to this point, his campaign has called on other candidates to exit the race so that he can run head-to-head against Mr. Sanders.
Nick Corasaniti reported from Las Vegas, and Matt Stevens from New York. It was also disclosed on Friday that the state Democratic Party has asked all caucus site leaders to sign nondisclosure agreements of their own that would keep them from talking to the news media. State party officials said it was standard operating procedure.
Nick Corasaniti reported from Las Vegas, and Michael M. Grynbaum from New York. Alexander Burns, Shane Goldmacher, Katie Glueck and Reid J. Epstein contributed from Las Vegas, and Matt Stevens contributed from New York.