Bernie Sanders campaign staffer departs after anti-Semitic, other offensive tweets surface: reports

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A newly hired community organizer for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign has left just days after taking the job – reportedly because some of his past tweets allegedly contained anti-Semitic and homophobic statements, as well as derogatory remarks about women and Asians.

Several of the tweets also reportedly included crude sexual references.

Darius Khalil Gordon had announced Wednesday that he had been named deputy director of constituency organizing for Sanders, the independent U.S. senator from Vermont who is among the top contenders for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

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But after a report about Gordon’s past tweets appeared Thursday in the Free Beacon, a Sanders spokesman told CNN on Friday that Gordon was no longer with the senator’s campaign.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a fundraiser for the Nevada Democratic Party, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Associated Press)

"He is no longer with the campaign and we wish him the best," Mike Casca, the Sanders campaign spokesman, told CNN.

On Friday, the Republican Jewish Coalition, based in Washington, had called upon Sanders to fire Gordon.

“It is outrageous that Bernie Sanders would hire him, given Gordon’s history of posting blatantly anti-Semitic comments on social media,” The RJC wrote in a statement.

Gordon’s tweets have since been deleted but screen captures of the messages are still visible on social media.

Staffing issues have been problematic for Sanders’ presidential campaigns, both in 2016 and currently.

Back in January, Sanders posted on Twitter an open apology to all women working on his 2016 campaign “who were harassed or mistreated.” Several women had complained about one of the state campaign directors who worked for Sanders.

In March, Sanders hired a campaign spokeswoman who claimed to be an illegal immigrant, as well as two other staffers who were non-American citizens -- in possible violation of federal election rules.

In September, a shakeup of Sanders’ current campaign operation occurred soon after the candidate lost out on a key endorsement: that of the progressive Working Families Party, which opted instead to back Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

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Sanders also contends with potential fallout from the endorsements of two Muslim women serving in Congress: U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., have been accused numerous times of making anti-Semitic statements and being anti-Israel. But their supporters have noted that both women support Sanders, who is Jewish.

Both CNN and the Washington Free Beacon said Gordon had not responded to their requests for comment.