Bernie Sanders stopped just short of calling on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign, saying instead that any official who knew that the videotape of a police officer shooting a black teenager was being withheld should be out of a job.

"Any official who helped suppress the videotape of Laquan McDonald's murder should be held accountable," Sanders said in a statement. "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."

While Sanders did not mention Emanuel by name, the mayor — a longtime Clinton ally who also served as President Barack Obama's first chief of staff — has been at the center of the swirling controversy.

A staffer in both of the last two Democratic White Houses, Emanuel has been a divisive figure in Chicago, narrowly winning re-election earlier this year. But, at the center of this national controversy, he has also found himself the subject of a political tug-of-war.

Republicans, for example, have been eager to tie him to national Democrats in recent days.

Hillary Clinton has declined to call for Emanuel's resignation in the wake of the revelations, but her campaign has urged a review of the Chicago Police Department by the Justice Department. Sanders joined that call with his statement on Friday.

Neither candidate has made the Chicago situation a major topic of discussion on the campaign trail, but both have discussed police tactics and reform.

And the matter also has another tie to Sanders' White House bid: Emanuel's opponent in his close 2015 re-election campaign, Chuy Garcia, has been on the trail in Iowa for the Vermonter.