Mayor Ford’s press secretary & deputy press secretary resign

Mayor Rob Ford’s office has confirmed that his press secretary George Christopoulos and deputy press secretary Isaac Ransom are no longer employed by the mayor.

“The Mayor thanks both George and Isaac for their valuable contributions and wishes them the best in their future endeavours,” the statement read.

Sunny Petrujkic will be the interim Press Secretary until further notice, it added.

Ford addressed the situation shortly after 3 p.m., saying he wished them luck to pursue other “avenues” and said, “It’s business as usual. We are soldiering on.”

“This is a huge stepping stone,” he said “As you can see it’s a young staff…and I’m not going to hold anyone back from moving on.”

When asked for a reason for their departures Ford said “I never get into personnel issues.”

He then announced that Amin Massoudi, Coun. Doug Ford’s executive assistant, would become his new communications director.

Ford also apologized to the media for a derogatory term he used against them during his weekly radio show. On Sunday Ford called the media “a bunch of maggots.”

“I’m sure you understand this has been a very stressful week for me and my family but that doesn’t justify using the terminology I did describing the media,” Ford explained. “I sincerely apologize to each and every one of you. I understand you have a job to do.”

The resignations come after Ford’s chief of staff Mark Towhey was fired last week and alongside a growing scandal at city hall surrounding both Rob Ford and his brother, Doug Ford.

Towhey reacted to their resignations on Twitter, calling Christopoulos and Ransom “honest” and “honorable.”

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The resignations came the same day the Globe and Mail, citing “two separate sources,” reported that police interviewed one of the mayor’s senior staff after a video that allegedly shows Ford using drugs was linked to a murder.

According to the report, the staffer reached out to police after being informed of a tip by another person in the mayor’s office.

Rob Ford had denied that the video exists while the mayor’s brother, Coun. Doug Ford, has denied reports that his family purchased the alleged video.

CityNews cannot verify if any of the allegations made against the Ford brothers are true.

More to come