The atmosphere is sharp and intense for Wednesday night’s Democratic debate hosted by NBC, MSNBC, and the Nevada Independent in Las Vegas, Nevada. After being taken to task over his record on stop-and-frisk, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg stumbled over an opportunity to address allegations that his company has been a hostile place for women to work because of harassment and sexism. He countered that he has “no tolerance” for the behavior the MeToo movement has brought into the mainstream conversation, which, for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, wasn’t enough.
In the clip below, she prompts him to not only explain himself, but to release women from their non-disclosure agreements so they can tell their own stories. Bloomberg, among other responses, appeared to roll his eyes.
"I hope you heard his defense. I've been nice to some women," Warren stated. "That just doesn't cut it. The mayor has to stand on his record. And what we need to know is exactly what's lurking out there. 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."
Warren asked if Bloomberg was willing to release “all those women” from the NDAs, which, unsurprisingly, Bloomberg did not agree to.
Bloomberg suggested that women were “maybe” offended by a “joke I told.”
Warren pressed Bloomberg on the number of NDAs, which he also did not confirm.
"I said we're not going to... To end these agreements because they were made consensually and they have every right to expect that they will stay private," Bloomberg stated.
Former Vice President Joe Biden added, “All the mayor has to do is say ‘you are released from the nondisclosure agreements.”
Warren also tweeted her question about releasing women from the NDAs.
And here is that epic back and forth.
Given that Warren opened by sizzling Bloomberg, he shouldn’t have been surprised, especially when she outright said, “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” in her opener.
Even outside of the debate, this isn’t the first time this topic has come up. Just last month, Bloomberg told ABC News, “You can't just walk away from it. They're legal agreements, and for all I know the other side wouldn't want to get out of it,” in reference to the NDAs.
Still, his most poignant response in all of this discourse was an eye-roll.