CITY HALL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now feeling the Bern (not in the good way) in the Laquan McDonald case.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), running for president as a Democrat, joined the chorus Friday calling for a full investigation and possible resignations over charges of mishandling the dashcam video of the shooting by officer Jason Van Dyke.
"I join with those calling for a federal investigation into the practices of the Chicago Police Department," Sanders said Friday in a statement posted on his Facebook page. "Furthermore, any official who helped suppress the videotape of Laquan McDonald's murder should be held accountable. And any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign. No one should be shielded by power or position."
That demand would seem to apply as well to Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who has drawn the brunt of calls for resignations.
Protesters called for both to resign Thursday. On Friday, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression called on Emanuel to resign as well in an event outside his City Hall office seeking an independent, civilian police oversight agency.
Yet Michael Brunson, of the Chicago Teachers Union, declined to commit the union to that position at the same event. And later in a protest march outside City Hall the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. likewise would not commit to calling for the mayor to resign, saying that's what a federal investigation should determine.
Sanders' statement was apparently sparked by an inquiry from Sun-Times Washington, D.C., correspondent Lynn Sweet.
The Mayor's Press Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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