US News

Bloomberg blames Bernie Bros for Tennessee office’s vandalism

The Democratic primary for president took an ugly turn when a Mike Bloomberg’s office in Knoxville, Tennessee was vandalized Thursday night — and Team Bloomberg suggested that supporters of Bernie Sanders were behind the crime.

The front doors of the office painted with expletives — including “F%%k Bloomberg” — and were plastered with posters that featured the words such as “authoritarian,” “classist” and “oligarch,” according to WVLT-TV in Knoxville.

“We don’t know who is responsible for this vandalism, but we do know it echoes language from the Sanders campaign and its supporters,” Bloomberg campaign Kevin Sheekey said in a statement.

Posters affixed to the building also showed clips of news articles on Bloomberg in which he allegedly made derogatory comments about women and minorities alongside words added by vandals including “fascist,” “sexist” and “racist,” the station said.

The Knoxville Police Department said they received a complaint that the vandalism occurred at the office on Western Avenue office between 6 p.m. on Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday.

There are no security cameras at the office and no witnesses have come forward.

The Knoxville Police Police Department is investigating the incident. No suspects have been identified.

Sheekey urged the Vermont senator to condemn the incident.

“Over the past week, we’ve seen similar attacks against Mike Bloomberg 2020 offices in multiple states. Fortunately, no one has been injured. But this needs to end before someone gets hurt,” his statement said.

“We call on Bernie Sanders to immediately condemn these attacks and for his campaign to end the Trump-like rhetoric that is clearly encouraging his supporters to engage in behavior that has no place in our politics.”

The vandalism comes on the heels of heated exchanges between front-runner democratic socialist Sanders and billionaire Bloomberg, the former three-term New York City mayor who is rising in the polls but was trounced by rivals in Wednesday’s Democratic debate.

The Bloomberg campaign also reported other instances of vandalism took place at campaign offices elsewhere over the past week that involved language that mirrors attacks that Sanders’ supporters and staff have used online and in interviews:

  • The Toledo, Ohio, office was vandalized on 2/13
  • The Youngstown, Ohio, office was vandalized and defaced on Feb. 14
  • The Ann Arbor, Michigan, office was vandalized with writing on windows saying “Corporate Pig” on Feb. 13
  • The Flint, Michigan, office was defaced with a sign saying “Eat the Rich” on Feb. 16

With Post wires