Michael Bloomberg says he's the only one who can knock off President Donald Trump _ and denied trying to buy his way to the White House.
The Democratic presidential candidate told CBS News in a wide-ranging new interview that he decided to jump into the race because Trump would "eat up" any of the other White House wannabes.
" I watched all the candidates. And I just thought to myself: 'Donald Trump would eat 'em up,'" Bloomberg told Gayle King in an interview to air Sunday on CBS. "Let me rephrase it. I think that I would do the best job of competing with him and beating him."
The billionaire said Trump should be impeached because the president doesn't understand that it's wrong to use public office for personal gain.
Bloomberg jumped into the race last month after declining to do so earlier in the year. He insisted that he has nothing against front-runner Joe Biden, who shares many of his moderate policy stands, and isn't running to bump him off.
"(Biden) doesn't have the job of president of the United States and neither do I," Bloomberg said. "I'm trying to take away the job from Donald Trump."
Bloomberg is the second billionaire in the Democratic field along with Tom Steyer. They are battling to join a top tier of Democratic candidates that is all white after the collapse of California Sen. Kamala Harris' bid.
He praised Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who remains in the race, but rejected his criticism that Democrats should be rallying behind a black or Latino standard-bearer.
"It would be better the more diverse any group is," he said. "But the public is out there picking and choosing and narrowing down this field."
He insisted that using his massive fortune to fund his campaign is no different than other candidates raising money from wealthy donors _ and might even make him a better president.
"I don't want to be bought," he said.
Bloomberg admitted having a big ego but insisted that's not why he's running for president. He touted the job he did as New York mayor for three terms.
"The team that I put together made an enormous difference in New York City," Bloomberg said. "And New York City benefited from it and continues to benefit from it today from what we did then."
He defended his apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" crackdown, saying "competent, intelligent" leaders admit when they make mistakes. That was a clear dig at Trump, who rarely if ever says sorry.
