Bloomberg says "if it's Donald Trump vs. Bernie, I would support Bernie"
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would support Senator Bernie Sanders in the general election if Sanders wins the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg, who is campaigning in Texas, said in an interview with CBS News' Tim Perry that "the number one thing is to replace Donald Trump."
"While I certainly would disagree with Bernie on an awful lot of things, if it's Donald Trump vs. Bernie, I would support Bernie," Bloomberg said.
But he deflected when asked whether Sanders' recent surge in some polls shows momentum.
"I can't sit around and play these games of guessing, I don't look at the polls," Bloomberg said. "I've got a job ahead of me. I've got to go out to as many places as I can get to, before the primaries start taking place. And before each state's primary comes up, and explaining what I do, and why I think that I can replace Donald Trump, and why I think I can unite this country. Those are the two objectives that I have."
Bloomberg told Gayle King on "CBS This Morning" in December that he watched all the candidates and " I just thought to myself, "'Donald Trump would eat 'em up.'"
Bloomberg is not competing in the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary, but is choosing instead to focus on more delegate-rich states that will have later primaries. The Texas' Democratic primary will be on Super Tuesday.
As for foreign policy, Bloomberg questioned whether President Trump had sufficient information before ordering the airstrike which killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.
"Well I don't know, number one, whether Donald Trump actually received the information that he said he did, or whether that was spin created afterwards. I just don't know," Bloomberg said. He said Soleimani was "a very bad guy and killed a lot of Americans."
"I don't have the intelligence to know whether it was a good decision or a bad decision," Bloomberg said. "What I do know is that Donald Trump has gotten rid of, either driven out or fired, all the people in the State Department and NEA and some other agencies, where they could give him advice. And making life and death decisions that have potentially enormous implications around the world. Without having a great staff and having the input from people with experience and who have studied all these things, is just not a smart thing to do."
Bloomberg also addressed the Ukrainian passenger plane shot down by Iran last week. Iranian leadership said Saturday that it was a mistake.
"Whether it was a mistake or deliberate, people are dead no matter what. We just have to be careful. Weapons in this day and age are so powerful that we can do some very bad unintended things, and bad guys can use them for intended things," Bloomberg said.
As for other recent world news — Prince Harry and Meghan's decision to step away from their royal duties — Bloomberg said he knows that being followed by the tabloids can be "annoying." But, on the other hand, he said "Harry is part of the royal family."
"He's taken advantage of being part of the royal family, that's how he got raised, that's how he went to school, and seems to me has some kind of obligation," Bloomberg said. "Is it a lifelong obligation? Probably not, you have a right to change your job. But I think he does owe the British public for their support of him, and in the end, got to do what's right for himself, for his wife and their family."
