Two more staff members have left the office of embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford amid an unrelenting scandal over an alleged video that appears to show him smoking crack cocaine.

Policy advisor Brian Johnston and Ford’s executive assistant left today.

Johnston told reporters he left of his own accord because “the timing was right” and when asked whether he thought Ford could weather the scandal, he replied “anything’s possible.”

Ford has now lost five members of his staff.

The latest departures came soon after Ford brushed past reporters at city hall without commenting on new allegations that a day after the scandal broke, he claimed to know the location of the alleged crack video.

In a story based on unidentified sources, the Toronto Star alleges Ford told senior aides not to worry about the video because he knew where it was.

Ford has said publicly that he does not smoke crack cocaine and the video does not exist.

The Toronto Star said sources told it that after Ford said he knew where the video was, he told the senior aides at the city hall meeting the address of two, 17th-floor units at a west-end apartment complex, citing “our contacts” as the source of his information.

His brother, Councillor Doug Ford, blames an unnamed ex-staff member and blasts the Star for using unidentified sources for what he calls false reports.

He also says Ford can handle the scandal all the way to the next election next year.