Trump: Bloomberg Is No Friend of Mine

Donald Trump said Tuesday he used to consider former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering a third-party run for the presidency, a friend of his, but probably not anymore.

"I haven't spoken to him in a long time, Trump told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, noting that he did a good job for the mayor in the last year of his administration with the "disaster" called Ferry Point, which had been under construction for 25 years or more.

"It was under construction for years and years, and it was sucking up money from the city," said Trump. "They were in there for like $300 million. It was under construction for 25 years or more. They don't even know when it began. He asked me to take it over. I went through the process and I took it over and got it done in less than a year and did a great job on it. I really helped him."

Now, he doesn't think he's a friend of Bloomberg's, because he has been hearing "he wants to run because Trump is running."

Trump said he also gets "treated so badly" by Bloomberg's media holdings, with the exceptions of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, both of whom were on the MSNBC panel Tuesday.

"The things they say are unbelievable, the worst of about anybody," Trump complained. "They treat me so knowingly badly that I would assume he's going to run."

But Trump hopes Bloomberg does enter the race, because he has "always liked Michael."

"I don't think we have any relationship — the relationship I think is probably gone, which is just fine with me, but I hope he runs because I love the competition," said Trump. "And I think it would be a very different dialogue for the debates. I really think it would be very interesting if he runs. I hope that Michael runs. He won't win, but I hope he runs."

Heilemann spoke up for his employer and colleagues, even though Trump had excluded him and Halperin from his complaints, and told Trump that "we always treat you fairly. Tough, but fair is the way Bloomberg Politics treats you in every instance."

Related Stories:

• Centrists Hard to Find This Election
• NY Post Columnist: Michael Bloomberg Should Challenge Hillary