Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg is facing backlash after a 2015 audio recording surfaced in which he insistently defended controversial law enforcement policies based in racial profiling.
Bloomberg, who was the mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, made the comments in a speech he gave to a think tank called the Aspen Institute.
"Ninety-five percent of murders — murderers and murder victims..." Bloomberg is heard saying in the recording, ..."are male, minorities, 16-25."
Later in the recording, he says that "the way you get the guns out of the kids' hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them."
Bloomberg also made racially charged comments about law enforcement practices in a 2013 radio interview.
Bloomberg has since distanced himself from these comments and apologized.
