independent | Michael Bloomberg called Goldman Sachs bankers his ‘peeps’ and promised to defend them, leaked tape reveals. Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is being criticised for telling bankers he would have defended them as president in a leaked audio from a private Goldman Sachs event in 2016.
At the event, Mr Bloomberg first described the
audience as his “peeps”, and said that had he run for president that
year, his “first campaign platform” would have been “to defend the banks.”
But, he added, “you know how well that’s gonna go down in this country”.
Mr Bloomberg then defended the banks more
seriously: “Somebody's gotta stand up and do what we need. A healthy
banking system that's going to take risks because that's what creates
the jobs for everybody. And nobody's willing to say that.”
The audio was uploaded to hosting platform Soundcloud and sent to CNN
and several journalists. The sender used the email address and username
“CancelGoldman”, and claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs for 14
years.
The Bloomberg campaign has confirmed that the audio is real. In an email to CNN,
spokesperson Stu Loeser said that much of what Mr Bloomberg said was in
jest, and that his remarks were of an analytical standard almost
unheard of in current politics.
