A top Bernie Sanders campaign official has called on Michael Bloomberg to end his bid for president after leaked audio surfaced of him defending stop and frisk.
Nina Turner, national co-chairwoman of the independent Vermont senator’s presidential campaign, called on Bloomberg to drop out of the Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, according to Axios. Turner called for Bloomberg’s exit over a newly surfaced audio clip of the former mayor defending stop-and-frisk policies he implemented while governing New York City.
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“What has been exposed is the true nature of Mayor Bloomberg. So, one apology just because you’re running for president does not erase the damage that you have done,” Nina Turner said. “He should not be running, now that that has come up. I think he should drop out of the race.”
Other Sanders campaign officials declined to say whether Turner’s comments are the stance of the campaign.
Bloomberg was mayor of New York City from 2003-13. The leaked audio segment of Bloomberg came from a 2015 event at the Aspen Institute. Bloomberg defended New York City’s stop-and-frisk policies as a way to curb gun violence.
“And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them, and then they start. ’Oh, I don’t want to get caught.’ So, they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home,” Bloomberg said.
