Bernie Sanders hires David Sirota for the 2020 presidential campaign

WASHINGTON – Senator Bernie Sanders' latest member to his 2020 presidential campaign draws criticism after a report reportedly revealed that the new staff member, an investigative journalist, was secretly advising for months while denigrating other Democrats running in the White House – a charge against Sanders. & # 39; campaign denies.

The report in The Atlantic notes that David Sirota, a policy and money-focused investigative reporter, had been working for months on the Sanders campaign before his role was officially announced on Tuesday. Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir told USA TODAY that Sirota took office unofficially on February 20, less than a month ago.

Sirota had been appointed speechwriter and senior advisor, but had been working in that role for some time, according to The Atlantic. The publication noted that while helping Sanders' campaign, Sirota had castigated other Democrats vying for the White House. Most of the examples cited in the publication date back to the day Sirota began secretly advising Sanders' campaign.

After being contacted by The Atlantic, the publication notes that more than 20,000 tweets from Sirota have been removed. In January and early February, several tweets on his account, which has about 125,000 subscribers, reprimanded Senator Kamala Harris for his "withdrawal for Medicare for All" and claimed that Senator Cory Booker had "attacked the campaign." Obama and voted with the GOP "on a bill regarding the price of drugs. Both are also candidates for the presidency.

The Atlantic also pointed out that Sirota, who was working for Sanders a few years ago, when Sanders was a member of the House, had written several articles in The Guardian that criticized Beto O 'Rourke, who did not want to talk to him. was not yet entered the race for the presidency.

The Guardian said in a statement to the Washington Post Sirota has stopped writing for the publication after being approached by the Sanders campaign and his last story was written in December 2018.

One of his articles in The Guardian examined the votes of Mr. O. Rourke during his term in Congress. Mr O 'Rourke, entered the race last week, had frequently voted in favor of legislation led by Republicans. A second article was an opinion column entitled "Beto O 'Rourke is the new Obama, and it's the last thing we need."

"Now, it's Washington's version of Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan, only screaming followers are beltway politicians: a rainmaker has touted it as" Obama, but white, "a group funded by Wall Street called Third Way said that "we are Beto's big fans and a former Obama contributor have written a love letter extolling the merits of O 'Rourke 2020, without even mentioning the position of the member of Texas Congress on a single legislative problem, "reads the text.

Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, told The Atlantic that Sirota played an advisory role to the campaign before being formally named on Tuesday. Shakir said it was a time trial to try Sirota since Sanders preferred to write his own speeches.

Sirota told The Atlantic that his purge on Twitter resulted from an "automatic detector that periodically and automatically removes tweets". He said that he had started "doing this several months ago".

On Facebook, Sirota told his nearly 10,000 subscribers that he was assuming a role in the Sanders campaign and had stated that it was an opportunity not to let pass .

"I believe that journalism is extremely important and necessary work, and I will miss it (and someday in the future, it is possible that I can come back to it)," wrote Sirota on Facebook. "When Bernie asked me to join his campaign, I had the feeling that I could not refuse this request because I sincerely believed that the future of our country, our planet and our our children were at stake in this election. "

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/19/bernie-sanders-hires-reporter-david-sirota-who-has-bashed-candidates/3216513002/