Bloomberg camp calls out 'Bernie Bros' after Knoxville office is vandalized

A campaign office in Knoxville, Tennessee, for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg was allegedly vandalized Thursday night and the campaign is hinting that it may be connected to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"This latest incident at our Knoxville campaign office is exactly what we've been warning about. 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 manager Kevin Sheekey said in a statement Friday.

"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," Sheekey continued.

"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," he said.

Words like "racist," "classist," and "oligarch" had been spray-painted on the sides and front doors of the office in Knoxville on Thursday, alongside snippets from news articles in which Bloomberg allegedly made derogatory statements about women and people of color.

The Bloomberg campaign's news release said the vandalism in Knoxville was reminiscent of other attacks on Bloomberg campaign offices in Ohio and Michigan over the last week.

Sanders has come under fire of late on accusations that his supporters are especially aggressive, threatening, and even violent. Only a few days ago, the Bloomberg campaign went after Sanders in an ad showcasing the bully tactics of the "Bernie Bros."

Sanders responded to the criticisms during Wednesday's debate, saying, "We have more than 10.6 million people on Twitter, and 99.9% of them are decent human beings. If there are a few people who make ugly remarks, I disown those people."

"They are not part of our movement," he concluded.

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