White House hopeful Michael Bloomberg, owner and founder of Bloomberg News, defended his company’s decision not to investigate his fellow Democratic presidential primary candidates, saying that being a reporter at Bloomberg includes “some restrictions and responsibilities.”
“They get a paycheck, but with your paycheck comes some restrictions and responsibilities,” Bloomberg told Gayle King in an exclusive interview with “CBS This Morning.”
He added: “People have said to me, ‘How can you investigate yourself? And I said, ‘I don’t think you can.’”
The former New York City mayor, who’s worth more than $50 billion, has come under criticism for the Bloomberg News decision, announced late last month, that the outlet will not investigate its founder or any of his primary rivals.
“We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries. We cannot treat Mike’s democratic competitors differently from him,” wrote Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in a staff memo obtained by The Hill.
President Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee both said they would begin withholding media credentials from Bloomberg journalists following the announcement.
Additionally in Friday’s interview, Bloomberg defended his decision to privately fund his own campaign, a move that has drawn ire from his fellow candidates such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“I’m doing exactly the same thing they’re doing, except that I am using my own money,” Bloomberg said.
“They’re using somebody else’s money, and those other people expect something from them,” he continued. “Nobody gives you money if they don’t expect something. I don’t want to be bought.”