>> Michael Bloomberg is a New York billionaire.
So on the surface he has a few things in common with Donald Trump, if you believe that Trump
is a billionaire.
Turns out he actually has more in common with him though, and that has to do with how he
has spoken to and about women.
This information coming from reporting before and during his time as mayor of New York and
also from a number of lawsuits that were filed against Bloomberg.
So let's jump into this.
Michael Bloomberg allegedly told a female employee quote, kill it when she told him
she was pregnant, according to the former Bloomberg executive's 1997 lawsuit, one of
several.
So as a first thing to say that sounds pretty bad, to tell a woman who'd just become pregnant
to kill it.
>> Okay, so I mean let's go through all the different layers of of how horrible that is,
first of all on a human level.
Putting aside every anything else, who says that?
So unfathomable, number two, she works for you.
Are you insane?
Okay, number three, this is the guy who's electable because he's gonna convince Republicans
to vote for him?
The guy who said about a woman who's pregnant, want don't you kill it.
I mean, look, that's what the reporting is that he said that so he should certainly be
asked about it.
Did you really say that?
Because that makes you by far the least electable of all the candidates, you won't ever get
a single Republican vote.
>> I was really surprised too about the second thing that it was reported he said to that
exact same woman.
In the GQ article they said that his next statement was, what are you number 16?
He was upset at how many women in his company were pregnant or on maternity leave.
Which is something that now you see a lot of people saying, look at how many pregnant
women we have.
We love this.
We're so great to them.
And that itself is really a rough thing to say if you're in a position of power in a
company.
>> It's just an inconvenience to you.
>> Yes, so sorry that you're making more people to populate the planet.
>> It's not just a rough thing to say, it's a totally unacceptable thing to say.
He said great number 16.
But okay, but you don't get pregnant.
You're a guy so you kind of can be free to be like, there goes women carrying the children
of the planet again.
>> Yeah.
>> Right ,yeah and so look, you judge it for whenever he said it and take it in context
and we're giving you all the quotes, etc.
And again, there's things that you say to friends, there's things you say in private,
there's other things and you could judge him for that too it's all on you, right?
When did he say it, those are all different factors, okay?
Then there are things you say to the women who work you.
>> Yeah.
>> That's a totally different ballgame.
>> Yeah and look, it's really unfortunate that the many times he ran for mayor that
this didn't matter to people.
Hopefully we've evolved since then.
Why don't we find out through the course of this election?
Those first two things had to do with sort of, it's inconvenient to me as a businessman
which is horrible, but also he just generally speaks to women in a way that should be completely
unacceptable.
So, even prior to her pregnancy, the woman who filed the lawsuit this is Akiko Sekai
Garrison, she claimed that Bloomberg had antagonized her when making disparaging comments about
her appearance and sexual desirability.
Quote, what, is this guy dumb and blind?
He is alleged to have said upon seeing her wearing an engagement ring.
Quote, what the hell is he marrying you for?
He also apparently pointed out another woman- >> Yeah, I.
No, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I mean, look, the only fact pattern where that isn't immediately disqualifying is you
know the person you were kidding around or you didn't actually say.
So I don't know how that got adjudicated, etc.
>> They settled.
>> So they settled okay, and did he really say it?
Maybe he didn't say it or maybe he'll say he didn't say we have to see etc, right?
But this one and everybody's got different metrics for how you measure how awful these
comments are, etc.
But this one to me, the last one is more unacceptable at work on a gradation about acceptable.
This one, just unacceptable on a human level, who says that to someone,
>> Yeah.
>> To anyone?
I mean, you shouldn't say to a guy either, you got married, if you really mean it, who
the hell would marry you.
You're so ugly, Jesus Christ, who says that on just a human level.
>> Like you were saying, all these different levels and what you say at work and what you
say among friends.
But the other thing that was in that article that was really shocking was when it was reported
that in 2015, he gave copies of his book.
>> Yes.
>> The autobiography that he wrote.
>> Bloomberg by Bloomberg.
>> Yes.
>> And he's too entitled.
>> I wonder if he has an ego.
>> But he gave that to all the employees of every town his gun advocacy organization.
And in that book, which was really old at the time, he mentioned having a girlfriend
in every city and there's all these old quotes that he made in public about how being a wealthy
person in New York is a wet dream.
I mean those are public comments that are out there in his book, in his past interviews
and those also should be way more scrutinized than they are, and I can't believe it's taken
until now, >> Yeah.
>> To look at them critically.
>> Yeah, he just wrote that in a book.
>> Yeah.
>> Like Trump.
>> And gave that book back out 20 years later, and was, I still stand by this book, read
it.
>> Yeah, to teen anti-gun violence activists.
>> Yeah, so look, guys, context matters.
All these different things that matters.
The book was written in 97, but he gave it out in 2015.
And so maybe he regrets saying these things, that's why people should ask him and maybe
he has a good explanation.
And unlike other people, I don't wanna just shut it off and go, no, I don't wanna hear
anything.
>> Yeah.
>> Right, let's hear what he has to say.
And, maybe also hear from the folks who he said it to.
>> Yeah.
>> So those are all important context.
What did he do?
And by the way they have, and I'll be extra fair to Bloomberg, his actions matter more
and in his actions and for example, stop and frisk were horrible.
But in this case, they do have 26 weeks of paid leave, maternity leave, apparently, at
Bloomberg.
That's fantastic.
So you can give him credit for that.
We do full context here.
But I will tell you this.
If any progressive candidate had ever said any one of these comments, every reporter
in the country would have already disqualified them and you all know it.
>> Yeah, ask him, like Megan Kelly asked Trump about his disparaging comments about women.
They can do it to him, they can do it.
And look, we get to watch his answer, and see how authentic he seems to be.
I wouldn't have your hopes up too high, though, because he has actually.
I'm gonna get in just a second to one where he has acknowledged that he said one of these
things.
And I want you to see his excuse that he gives.
So let's continue his comments, Garrison claimed that Bloomberg pointed out another women to
her and remarked quote, if you looked like that, I would do you in a second.
Now, that sounds bad.
But wait until you find out what he meant by that.
So Bloomberg conceded that he did say about another woman to Garrison, I'd do her.
He insisted though that he believed that quote to do someone meant merely to have a personal
relationship with them.
>> Dog, get outta here.
Everybody knows what it means.
>> Just do an honest apology doesn't all right.
>> Yeah, it's like I go on Christmas to see my family to do them, to have a relationship
with them, what are you talking about you lier.
>> I do all of my coworkers all the time.
>> Right >> I wanna hear that on stage, exactly, Jesus.
So there is more though.
The suit accused Bloomberg of making racist remarks including calling Mexican clients
jumping beans.
And telling a female employee who needed a nanny, quote, all you need is some black who
doesn't even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building.
I don't know about- >> Yeah, I'm not sure I even know what that
means.
>> But I understand there's some racism there.
So look, he did settle this particular law suit.
There were others, but this he settled in 2000.
He claimed to have passed a lie detector test in 2001 denying the kill it comment.
He said he submitted the polygraph because I expected that those allegations would surface
in the news media as I began to explore the possibility of entering the mayor's race.
Now look that is certainly interesting if you passed a polygraph, he says he did pass
it.
They won't let anyone see the results.
They literally never let anyone in the last 20 years see those results.
>> It is not how it works, okay.
>> No >> Now if you pass it it's super relevant
context, maybe he didn't say it.
Unlike all the rest of the media, we're fair if you actually, and by the way, the polygraph
test is not dispositive, but it would be really interesting evidence.
But if you say I took one, trust me, I passed it but I won't ever let you see it.
That makes me think, you didn't pass it.
>> But what does that mean that he was anticipating these allegations would come out?
Did he anticipate just any negativity would come out or was he anticipating specifically
a comment kill it that he didn't say?
>> Yeah, that is interesting.
>> To be fair, he got sued on it.
So that's why it's >> Yeah.
And they mentioned 40 different lawsuits and look so some lawsuits are settled for a small
amount, you could reach whatever conclusion you want from that.
Some are settled for a large amount, you can reach whatever conclusion you want from that.
And it's not him necessarily doing all 40, it is his company.
He does have a giant company.
We're giving you all the context.
>> Yeah.
>> But I think there's a better way to go about this more honestly than Bloomberg is.
And again, the double standard is what drives me absolutely insane.
>> Yeah, and by the way, so I have two more comments I wanna read and so a lot of what
I've told you, this comes from the late 90s.
So I want to fast forward a bit.
I forget exactly for this one if it's 2012 or 2014, but he's Mayor at this point.
And you remember the news we told you yesterday where they were passing a living wage bill,
and he vetoed it and then sued the city twice to make sure that workers didn't get $10 an
hour.
Well, in that battle, he went up against New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn,
and he had apparently a pretty interesting relationship with her.
To give you an idea, and remember this is like seven, eight years ago maybe.
So she said, the couple of days a week before I need to get my hair colored, he'll say,
do you pay a lot to make your hair be two colors?
Because now it's three with the gray.
Once she failed to wear heels at public events.
She says, I was at a parade with him once and he said, what are those?
And I said they're comfortable and he said, I never wanna hear those words out of your
mouth again.
This is a New York City Council's speaker.
He also apparently told colleagues, if women wanted to be appreciated for their brains,
they'd go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale's.
>> Because he never goes shopping, he only goes to the library.
>> Exactly.
>> Yeah, and there wasn't a citation in terms of the year but reporting says that at one
point speaking of his Bloomberg terminals, he said it will do everything including give
you oral sex.
I guess that puts a lot of you girls out of business.
He said to his employees that were female.
>> That doesn't even make sense.
Computers don't do that.
>> I like Lindsey fact checking.
>> I'm so first of all, the whole thing made me mad when I read that quote, but second
of all, it doesn't even make sense.
You've set up a joke for a punch line to demean women and your joke didn't even work.
>> Plus they have jobs.
They work for you, you idiot.
Anyway so look, some of this is business related, some of this is just horribly misogynistic,
some of it is recent, some of it goes back a long way.
And again he can be really apologetic about this.
Let's find out on the debate stage.
Let's see how he confronts some of these comments.
>> I'm glad it came out, I'm glad somebody took the time to compile it.
Laura Bassett, right?
She's the one who wrote it for GQ.
I'm glad that she sat down and she got all of this because now there's a body of work
to point to and be okay, let's go through this one by one sir.
>> Yeah, but also credit to McArdle of Yahoo Finance and Meghan Garber of the Atlantic.
Thankfully,it's been a couple months since any of this was mentioned and most of it is
from back when he was initially running in the mayor's race.
And like I said in the beginning, it wasn't enough to matter in that race.
But hopefully post #MeToo people take this sort of stuff seriously, and he should at
least address these things now that he's running as a Democrat instead
of a Republican.