Bloomberg Attacks Trump At DNC: 'The Richest Thing About Trump Is His Hypocrisy'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Michael Bloomberg, elected mayor of New York City as a Republican, offered a forceful denunciation of fellow New York billionaire Donald Trump on Wednesday at the Democratic convention.

Now a political independent, Bloomberg considered making a third-party run for president this year before opting against a campaign, expressing worry he would siphon away votes from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and inadvertently help elect Trump.

In his convention Bloomberg addressed why a Trump administration would be disastrous for the nation's economy.

"Trump's business plan is a disaster in the making," he said. "...Trump is a risky, reckless and radical choice."

The address, which criticized both Republicans and Democrats detailed why Hillary Clinton was qualified to be President. The former NY mayor spoke to Independent and Republican voters and detailed why Donald Trump's "hypocrisy".

"I know a con when I see one." "The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy."

A three-term mayor who left office in 2013, Bloomberg has been sharply critical of Trump. He wrote in March that the real estate mogul has run "the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people's prejudices and fears."

While in office, Bloomberg had a cordial relationship with Clinton, who, as a senator from New York, was involved in the city's post-9/11 rebuilding effort. He did, too, with Trump, who he knew from New York's glitzy social circuit and from dealings with him as a developer.

But Trump's hardline approach to immigration alienated Bloomberg, who often makes the case an open immigration policy is needed to keep the nation's economy growing.

Bloomberg has also become arguably the nation's leading gun-control advocate, spending millions of his own fortune to finance candidates and groups that call for the restriction of firearms. Trump, meanwhile, has courted the support of the National Rifle Association, a pro-gun lobbying group that frequently criticizes Bloomberg.

"We are very grateful for the opportunity to have somebody like the mayor signify the broad amount of support that Hillary Clinton has earned over the course of this campaign," said Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon.

Bloomberg, worth an estimated $47 billion, is the founder of the financial news and information provider Bloomberg LP. He was a political novice when he launched an unlikely bid for mayor in 2001. Largely a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, he served for 12 years, overseeing a gilded age in the nation's largest city even as the gap between its rich and poor grew.

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