An African American political consultant signed a nondisclosure agreement barring her from discussing a lawsuit alleging Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and a nonprofit he later founded engaged in discriminatory racial conduct.
The allegations in Tezlyn Figaro's 2019 lawsuit raise questions about Sanders' approach toward black voters. Figaro confirmed the existence of the agreement to The Associated Press.
Sanders struggled to appeal to African Americans in 2016 and can't afford to do so again if he hopes to become president.
The agreement between Figaro and the nonprofit Our Revolution is silencing a woman who'd criticized Sanders' record on race. That's led some to call for her to be released from it.
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have become a hot topic in the 2020 presidential contest with many political campaigns using them to protect private data and proprietary information.
During Michael Bloomberg's first debate appearance on Feb. 19 in Las Vegas, Sen. Elizabeth Warren pressed the billionaire on allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination and his company's use of NDA's.
Under pressure, Bloomberg later allowed his company to release three women from their NDA's related to past comments he made.
Sanders has already apologized to women who experienced harassment during his 2016 presidential campaign. According to the Associated Press, Sanders said back in January 2019 that the alleged misconduct by male aides "was absolutely unacceptable and certainly not what a progressive campaign or any campaign should be about.”