Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign manager says Clinton made the wrong call in refusing to fire faith adviser accused of sexual harassment
- Hillary Clinton "overruled" a recommendation made by top aides to fire her faith adviser, Burns Strider, after he was accused of sexually harassing a young female subordinate.
- Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's 2008 campaign manager, said she advised Clinton to fire Strider after investigating the allegations, which she deemed "very credible."
- Solis Doyle told CNN on Monday that she was "disappointed" by Clinton's response to a Friday New York Times report that exposed the allegations.
Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, said she investigated sexual harassment allegations made against a campaign adviser and "came to the conclusion that there was sexual harassment involved" and that the aide's accuser was "very credible," Solis Doyle told CNN on Monday.
"My recommendation to the senator was to fire him, and I was overruled," she said.
The New York Times first reported on the allegations made against Burns Strider - and that he was fired years later from a Clinton-aligned super PAC for sexual harassment. Clinton responded to the Friday Times report via Twitter, writing that she was "dismayed" by the allegations at the time, but felt they were adequately addressed.
"A story appeared today about something that happened in 2008. I was dismayed when it occurred, but was heartened the young woman came forward, was heard, and had her concerns taken seriously and addressed," Clinton tweeted on Friday, adding, "I called her today to tell her how proud I am of her and to make sure she knows what all women should: we deserve to be heard."
Solis Doyle said she was "disappointed" by Clinton's response to the story and added that she believes Clinton agrees that she didn't punish Strider appropriately.
"It was the wrong call," she said. "I wish she had said it was the wrong call."
The former campaign boss added that she blames herself, in part, for not advocating more aggressively for Strider's removal.
"I feel a great deal of regret that I didn't fight harder, didn't push harder for him to be fired," Doyle said. "It's just really infuriating."
Strider was selected to lead Correct the Record, an independent pro-Clinton super PAC, in 2013 and was fired several months later for workplace misconduct, including sexually harassing multiple female subordinates, The Times and Buzzfeed reported.