Bloomberg Spox: Mike Bloomberg Was Saying He Backed — Not ‘Bought’ — Dem House Candidates During Viral Debate Moment

Senior Bloomberg campaign adviser Tim O’Brien said that he heard former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg say “back” — not “bought” — when he described funding Democratic congressional candidates at Tuesday night’s CBS News Democratic presidential debate. But it was “fine” if Bloomberg said “bought,” too.

In a moment that went viral during the debate, Bloomberg talked about funding the campaigns that flipped the House of Representatives during the midterms, and seemed to say “I bough…I got them.”

On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN’s New Day, anchor John Berman played the clip and asked O’Brien about the moment, saying “I what them?”

“Tim, what did he mean to say there, because it sure sounded like he was about to say I bought them,” Berman said.

“John Berman, you’re such a cynical journalist,” O’Brien said, then added “What I heard was ‘back,’ but it’s fine if it was bought, I think the point remains.”

“What was the outcome? Mike spent a lot of money getting behind Democrats, a large number of whom were women, to help turn the House blue,” O’Brien continued. “The House turned blue, Nancy Pelosi became speaker, Donald Trump got impeached, and if Bernie Sanders gets elected the House will be red again, the Senate will stay red, the White House will stay in Donald Trump’s hands, and the courts will continue to get packed.”

“I might be a cynical journalist, but in this case all I was someone who was listening, listening to words spoken out loud, which is why I was asking about it,” Berman replied.

Watch the clip above via CNN.