Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took Michael Bloomberg to the mat during the Democrat debate on Wednesday, challenging him to release former employees from non-disclosure agreements they had signed, including some for claims of sexual harassment.
“[Bloomberg] has gotten some number of women — dozens? — who knows — to sign non-disclosure agreements both for sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace,” Warren said.
“So, Mr. Mayor, are you willing to release all of those women from those non-disclosure agreements so we can hear their side of the story?” Warren asked.
“We have a very few non-disclosure agreements,” Bloomberg said.
“How many is that?” Warren asked.
“Let me finish,” Bloomberg said. “None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told.”
“These were agreements between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that’s up to them,” Bloomberg said.
The exchange continued with audible groans at Bloomberg’s responses.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.