Warren campaign fires senior staffer for inappropriate behavior
Senator Elizabeth Warren's 2020 campaign said Friday a senior staffer has been fired for inappropriate behavior. "I want us to have a campaign that lives our values and that lifts up inclusivity," Warren told reporters Friday about the firing.
In a statement to CBS News, communications director Kristen Orthman said the campaign had received "multiple complaints regarding inappropriate behavior" about Rich McDaniel, who served as national organizing director. Based on the results of an investigation by outside counsel, Orthman said the campaign concluded McDaniel could not be part of the campaign moving forward.
McDaniel told CBS News in a statement that he and the campaign have "separated" and said "departing at this time is in the best interest of both parties."
"I would never intentionally engage in any behavior inconsistent with the campaign or my own values," his statement said. "If others feel that I have, I understand it is important to listen even when you disagree. I wish the campaign and my colleagues well."
Warren, who is in Los Angeles for the SEIU conference with many of the other 2020 Democrats, told reporters that she didn't have "anything to say on this specific case." But she said she wanted "to use this as an opportunity to say that employers all across this country need to have processes in place so that people who have complaints, who have concerns, can bring them forward without fear that they will be discriminated against or penalized going forward."
McDaniel, an early hire for Warren, is a veteran of several Democratic campaigns. He worked for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and was a field director for Doug Jones' 2017 Senate campaign in Alabama.
The news of McDaniel's departure was first reported by Politico.
The news of the firing came on the same day Warren's campaign announced it had raised $24.6 million between June and the end of September, a massive haul that put them just behind Senator Bernie Sanders. Warren has been steadily rising in the polls, and Recent national polls by both Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University put her above former Vice President Joe Biden.