Mike Bloomberg vs. the facts

Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has made a splash since joining the presidential race, spending more than $500 million from his self-made fortune and placing a blizzard of ads on TV and digital devices.

But Bloomberg the Democratic presidential candidate is often at odds with Bloomberg the three-term mayor, who ran as a Republican and independent. He often airbrushes parts of his record that could turn off Democratic voters.

Here’s a roundup of some of his false and misleading claims.

“I certainly supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He says no, but I was there both times for them, thank you very much.”

— CNN town hall, Feb. 26

Bloomberg did not endorse any candidate in 2008. He wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg View in the waning days of the 2012 campaign endorsing Obama, but later called it “backhanded” at a Goldman Sachs event in 2016.

“The second Obama election, I wrote a very backhanded endorsement of Obama, saying I thought he hadn’t done the right thing, hadn’t been good at things that I think are important,” Bloomberg said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by CNN.