Leaked audio exposes Michael Bloomberg's racist defense of 'stop and frisk' policing from 2015 speech video he reportedly blocked from being released

Former New York City Mayor and current Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg advocated for police targeting young minorities as the most effective way to reduce crime in an audio from 2015 leaked Monday night.

Bloomberg, who was a proponent of "stop and frisk" policing methods, engaged in some blatant racial profiling when describing who committed the most crimes in urban areas and said cities need to invest money in putting more police on the street, particularly in minority neighborhoods:

Ninety-five percent of murders — murderers and murder victims — fit one M.O. You can just take a description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops. They are male, minorities, 16-25. That's true in New York, that's true in virtually every city (inaudible). And that's where the real crime is. You've got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed.

You want to spend the money, put a lot of cops on the streets. Put those cops where the crime is, which means in minority neighborhoods. So one of the unintended consequences is people say, "Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities." Yes, that's true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that's where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids' hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them. ... And then they start ... "Oh I don't want to get caught." So they don't bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home.

Bloomberg prevented the footage of the speech from being released in 2015, according to the Aspen Times.

In another clip, which was shared by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, Bloomberg says police are pulling white people over too often, and pulling over minorities over too infrequently.

As mayor of New York City from 2002 until 2013, Bloomberg presided over the peak of "stop and frisk," which actually began during former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's tenure. In 2011, nearly 700,000 people were stopped and searched for weapons, with about 88% of them being innocent. The method has been criticized for the way it is used to target and abuse minorities.

Bloomberg's presidential campaign has benefitted some lately from the tainted results of the Iowa caucuses, and the struggles of former Vice President Joe Biden. Bloomberg did not invest any effort into the first four primary states, and has not participated in any of the debates to this point. His campaign has consisted mostly of overwhelming amounts of money spent on online and television advertising.