Presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg speaks during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 19, 2020 (Mark Ralston / AFP)

Bloomberg posts misleading video about rivals after debate debut

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 20, 2020 at 22:20
1 min read
By W.G. DUNLOP, AFP USA

Presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg posted a video online that shows other candidates at a loss for words following a remark he made during the Democratic debate in Nevada. The clip is misleading; it has been edited to cast his rivals as dumbfounded during a lengthy silence after Bloomberg's comment, but he actually quickly resumed speaking.

“I’m the only one here I think that’s ever started a business, is that fair?” Bloomberg says in the video posted on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, which has also been shared on Facebook here and here.

It then shows about 20 seconds of footage of the other candidates saying nothing as the sound of chirping crickets plays, presenting it as their reaction to his comment.

“Okay,” Bloomberg says as the clip ends.

A screenshot taken on February 20, 2020 shows a misleading video tweeted by Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg

But there was actually only a gap of about one second between Bloomberg’s remark and him saying “okay,” after which he continued to speak.

That portion of the February 19, 2020 debate in Las Vegas can be viewed starting at the 1:13:30 minute mark in this video.

Bloomberg -- who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his own fortune on political advertising -- made the first debate appearance of his presidential run in Las Vegas.

He was heavily criticized by fellow Democratic candidates about his suitability for office given his record as New York mayor, for remarks he allegedly made about women, and other issues.

The debate clip is not the first misleading video associated with Bloomberg’s candidacy: one of his campaign ads attacking President Donald Trump used footage that dated to his predecessor Barack Obama’s time in office.

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