Bloomberg's presidential bid hits snag

Washington: A possible presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, could be threatened by new details of a sexual harassment lawsuit that alleged he said "kill it!" to an executive who told him that she was pregnant.

Apart from being accused of suggesting that Sekiko Sakai Garrison abort her baby, Bloomberg also allegedly said to her: "Great! Number 16!", an apparent reference to the number of pregnancies among his staff.

The billionaire businessman is also claimed to have pointed out a woman to Garrison, and said: "If you looked like that, I would do you in a second."

The suit accused him of referring to Mexican clients as "jumping beans" and saying of a female worker who was having trouble finding a nanny that "all you need is some black who doesn't even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building."

Bloomberg, 65, settled the lawsuit in 2000. A gag clause on both sides was part of the deal, but details of the allegations were leaked on Monday.

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