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Bernie Sanders Apologizes to Women Harassed During His 2016 Campaign


Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., heads to his office, as the Senate takes up a House-passed bill that would pay for President Donald Trump's border wall and avert a partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 21, 2018.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., heads to his office, as the Senate takes up a House-passed bill that would pay for President Donald Trump's border wall and avert a partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 21, 2018.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who made a strong run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, is apologizing to women who worked on his campaign after several of them said they had endured sexual harassment and were not paid as much as their male counterparts.

The allegations surfaced this week in news accounts as Sanders, a lawmaker from the northeastern state of Vermont, considers another run for the presidency in 2020.

“I certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately, and of course if I run, we will do better next time,” Sanders told CNN on Wednesday night.

After a lengthy campaign, Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, who went on to lose the national election to then-real estate mogul Donald Trump as he won the White House.

The 77-year-old Sanders said he was unaware of the allegations during the course of his campaign.

"I am not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that I'm hearing from now, that women felt they were disrespected, that there was sexual harassment which was not dealt with as effectively as possible," Sanders said.

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