Clinton addresses harassment accusations against adviser

Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she wished she had handled differently an accusation of sexual harassment against a faith and values adviser on her 2008 presidential campaign. Burns Strider is a former Southern Baptist youth minister who co-founded the American Values Network lobbying group. In 2007, while working for the Clinton campaign, a staff member accused him of rubbing her shoulders inappropriately, kissing her on the forehead, and sending suggestive emails, The New York Times reported. Clinton’s campaign manager urged her to fire Strider, but Clinton docked his pay, ordered him to counseling, and moved the woman to a different department, according to the Times. A few years later, Strider was terminated from a different job for inappropriate behavior. Clinton on Tuesday said she recently contacted the woman, who said she felt the campaign took her accusations seriously and helped her flourish in her new role. “I very much understand the question I’m being asked as to why I let an employee on my 2008 campaign keep his job despite his inappropriate workplace behavior,” Clinton said in a Facebook post. “The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t.”