Michael Bloomberg, whose self-funded campaign is gaining national momentum amid former frontrunner Joe Biden’s collapse, revealed his plan Tuesday for his multi-billion-dollar company should he manage to secure the Democratic nomination and take down President Trump in November. The morning after the statements about the plans for his multi-billion-dollar business, Trump slammed Bloomberg News for its election coverage and accused the former New York City mayor of having already violated campaign finance laws.
In an appearance on CNN Tuesday, Bloomberg’s campaign policy adviser said that Bloomberg — who recent polls indicate is now frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders'(I-VT) biggest threat — would put his company in a blind trust and then eventually sell it should he win the 2020 election. The claim was backed up by his campaign spokeswoman.
As the Wall Street Journal noted in its reports on the pair of statements from Bloomberg’s campaign, the future of his massively successful and influential financial-data and media company “had been in question since he announced his run for president in November, with him and his advisers going back and forth on whether he would place the business in a blind trust if he won, or if he would divest his interests entirely.”
The Journal highlights the conflict posed by Bloomberg’s significant financial interests and his attacks on Trump’s handling of his own business empire after becoming president:
Mr. Bloomberg, 78, has aggressively campaigned by challenging Mr. Trump’s ethics, noting that the president never placed his business interests in a blind trust, instead turning them over to his sons to run. Democrats in Congress have accused the president of accepting payments from foreign governments through his hotels and golf resorts, claiming he has violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which bars such transactions. The White House has argued in court that stays at the president’s hotels were not in violation of the law, and an appeals court recently rejected a lawsuit by House Democrats saying they lacked standing to bring the case.
In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump took aim at Bloomberg’s media company and then leveled an accusation at the Democratic candidate that has plagued Trump himself.
“Is corrupt Bloomberg News going to say what a pathetic debater Mini Mike is, that he doesn’t respect our great farmers, or that he has violated campaign finance laws at the highest and most sinister level with ‘payoffs’ all over the place?” Trump wrote.
Is corrupt Bloomberg News going to say what a pathetic debater Mini Mike is, that he doesn’t respect our great farmers, or that he has violated campaign finance laws at the highest and most sinister level with “payoffs” all over the place?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2020
When Bloomberg first entered the race, Bloomberg News announced that it would continue its policy of not investigating him and said that it would likewise refrain from investigating any other Democratic candidates during the primary, but would continue to investigate and report on the Trump administration. The announcement was met with blowback about the inevitable political bias that would characterize the news organization’s 2020 election coverage as a result of the policy.
Trump’s “hush money” payments during the 2016 election to two women, former Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels, over alleged past affairs, have prompted accusations of campaign finance violations against him, including by his former “fixer”-turned-“rat” Michael Cohen, who was famously involved in the deal with Daniels.
The Journal notes that Bloomberg is estimated to be worth some $54 billion and owns roughly 90% of Bloomberg LP, which brought in around $10.5 billion in revenue in 2019, a 5.7% increase from 2018.
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