Bloomberg’s NDA Problem? Elizabeth Warren Has a Plan for That.

At Wednesday’s debate, Elizabeth Warren pressed Michael Bloomberg on his use of nondisclosure agreements in settling harassment lawsuits with former employees. She asked him to commit on the spot to release those employees from their NDAs “so we can hear their side of the story.”

Bloomberg sputtered something about not having very many NDAs (though he wouldn’t give a number or even a range) and that they were signed “consensually” so it wouldn’t be fair to the people who had settled with him to void the contract now. Amazingly, a lot of people online were agreeing with Bloomberg, using Twitter and comments sections to say that Elizabeth Warren clearly doesn’t understand how NDAs work.

You fools, this is Elizabeth Ann Warren. Of course she knows how NDAs work.

At a CNN town hall event in Nevada, Warren made it clear that she doesn’t just understand the issue at hand, but she–in typical Warren fashion–has a plan to fix it.

“I used to teach contract law and I thought I would make this easy,” she said to applause from the crowd. “I wrote up a release and covenant not to sue, and all that Mayor Bloomberg has to do is download it–I’ll text it–sign it, and then the women, or men, will be free to speak and tell their own stories.”

“I used to teach contract law. And I thought I would make this easy.”

Elizabeth Warren opened her #cnntownhall by reading aloud a document to release people from Michael Bloomberg’s nondisclosure agreements pic.twitter.com/lDdeRRzbwJ

— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2020

Warren read from her “simple and straightforward” document and also posted it online.

Mike Bloomberg can easily release the women who have accused him of sexual harassment—and who voluntarily want to speak about their experiences—from their non-disclosure agreements. Take a look at how simple and straightforward it would be: pic.twitter.com/XLncEnSXDF

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 21, 2020

The document asks Bloomberg to “permit any person with knowledge of sexual harassment, discrimination, or other misconduct occurring at the Company or by Bloomberg to come forth and speak out, if that person so chooses, without fear of recourse by Bloomberg or the Company.”

“Under this release,” the document reads, “it is now the other person’s choice to disclose such information or not.” Easy peasy.

There’s less than a week until the next debate and I can’t wait to see Warren push Bloomberg to give an actual response to this proposal. Not that I expect him to ever sign something like this, but I really enjoy watching Warren make him squirm.

Pundits are really sleeping on the fact that the rest of these candidates have to share a stage with Beast Mode Warren again next week, pre-Super Tuesday, before what should be a record viewership. Historically, when she’s the underdog, she’s at her best and extremely dangerous.

— Adam Best (@adamcbest) February 21, 2020

(via CNN on Twitter)

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