The scandal surrounding conservative Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his city councilman brother Doug is heating up.
Ford just lost two senior staff members following recent allegations in Gawker that he smokes crack cocaine, CTV News reported Monday.
The embattled mayor held a press conference on Friday to deny the crack allegations, which surfaced on May 16 when Gawker's John Cook claimed he saw a video of Ford smoking crack.
During the press conference, Doug Ford called Gawker's reporting "disgusting."
On Saturday, The Globe and Mail published a long-term investigation alleging Ford's three older siblings had ties to the illegal drug trade. Doug, a powerful city politician, was a large-scale hash dealer in the 1980s, accoding to the report.
Now, two of Ford's senior staff members — press secretary George Christopoulos and communications special assistant Isaac Ransom — are no longer working for him, according to CTV News. (It's not clear whether they resigned or were fired.) Ford fired his chief of staff without explanation last week.
All Ford would say to reporters about the resignations is that he wishes the former staffers "the best of success."
Ford also apologized for comments he made this weekend calling reporters "a bunch of maggots" and addressed an apparent police investigation into the scandal.
"Everything's fine," he told reporters Monday. "I have no idea what the police are investigating. It's better that you talk to police about that."
Reporters asked Doug Ford on Monday whether the "mayor's office is imploding," but Doug insisted that they will move forward and said that Rob is not considering resigning his position as mayor.
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