Women who worked for Bernie Sanders on his US presidential campaign in 2016 have spoken out with allegations of sexual harassment, threatening to derail his second White House bid before it begins.
A New York Times report has detailed allegations of unwanted sexual advances and pay inequity on his first campaign, although the claims did not involve Sanders himself.
Nonetheless, Sanders apologised on Wednesday "to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately."
"Of course, if I run again, we will do better next time," Sanders told CNN.
The timing could not be worse for Sanders, who is gearing up for a second bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, after a strong showing in 2016 behind Hillary Clinton.
Even before the Times' story was published, Politico reported that more than two dozen former campaign workers and volunteers had requested a meeting with Sanders to discuss sexual violence and harassment that occurred in 2016.
The Times detailed one situation in which a campaign surrogate touched a strategist's hair in a "sexual way," among other unwanted advances.
The Times also reported that in some cases, women were expected to sleep in the same quarters as men they didn't know. Others discovered examples of men who were paid significantly more for doing similar jobs.
Sanders' wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, said the meeting with concerned former staff and volunteers would take place in a matter of days.
"The fact is if somebody didn't feel safe in any way, it was a failure. I, we apologise profusely. This is not acceptable," she said.
O'Meara Sanders said she and her husband became aware of the allegations only after the campaign was over.
"We didn't hear specific things during the campaign. We heard some of them after the campaign. We've heard others just now that were never reported," O'Meara Sanders said.
