WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton resisted her campaign manager’s call to fire an aide accused of sexual harassment during her 2008 campaign, NBC News has confirmed. The aide, Burns Strider, was ultimately dismissed from a group helping her 2016 campaign amid similar allegations.
Strider was accused of rubbing the shoulders of a 30-year-old female subordinate, kissing her on the forehead and sending her suggestive emails, The New York Times first reported Friday. According to The Times, he was sent to counseling and docked pay, while his subordinate was reassigned on the campaign. Another member of Clinton’s 2008 campaign staff confirmed the details to NBC News in a series of text messages.
Utrecht, Kleinfeld, Fiori, Partners, a law firm that represented Clinton’s 2008 campaign, said in a statement there was “a process to address complaints of misconduct or harassment. When matters arose, they were reviewed in accordance with these policies, and appropriate action was taken. This complaint was no exception.”
Before the 2016 campaign, Strider was hired as the manager at Correct the Record, an outside group that supported Clinton’s second bid for the presidency. He was fired from that job after a woman who left the organization had alleged that Strider sent her suggestive messages, demanded that she travel with him, expressed jealousy about her boyfriend and inquired about her schedule, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Correct the Record officials spoke with several other female employees who reported that Strider had made them feel uncomfortable, the person said.
“There was just enough there, plus hearing about the old complaint … that it resulted in him being fired,” the person said.
The Times also first reported that Strider was fired from Correct the Record.
Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, declined to comment when reached by NBC News. An email seeking comment from Strider was not immediately returned.
Strider, a Mississippi native, had formed a personal relationship with Clinton as her faith adviser on the 2008 campaign, and he shared daily inspirational messages with her, sometimes from Scripture and sometimes from her favorite religious thinkers.
He has also worked in the House of Representatives, including stints with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Rep. Ronnie Shows, D-Miss.