DENVER — The 2020 Presidential campaign rolled through Denver Saturday as Democratic hopeful Mike Bloomberg made his second stop in Colorado since December. Hundreds of people lined up to see him speak, many waiting for more than an hour to get inside.
Bloomberg spoke for only about 12 minutes to the crowd waiting to see him open his new campaign office.
9NEWS spoke with Bloomberg following the event about issues facing Colorado. The campaign allowed only a couple of minutes to speak with the candidate.
Watch the full interview:
Marc Sallinger: You’ve said that legalizing marijuana is perhaps the stupidest thing that people have done. Are the people of Colorado stupid for legalizing it?
Mike Bloomberg: The first thing is we shouldn’t put anyone in jail over it. Colorado has a right to do what they want to do. I would advise going slowly to any other state because it’s not clear, doctors aren’t sure whether or not it’s doing damage. If a state wants to do it, and Colorado and Washington were the first two that did it, that’s up to the state. What I really object to is putting people in jail for marijuana. That’s really dumb.
Sallinger: You’ve said that you’re running for President to change America. Wouldn’t it be quicker and easier to change America just by giving away your vast fortune as opposed to spending it on advertising?
Bloomberg: You know, it sounds like a vast fortune, but when you think about this country, my fortune is $5 for every person. It’s not exactly going to change the world. I do give away a lot of money. I give away virtually everything that my foundation makes, or that my company makes, and we put it in the foundation and it gives it away. The bottom line is that we have a lot of things to change in this country and if I can help and do demonstration projects and seed others to do the work, that’s something that I’ll look back on.
Sallinger: You talk a lot about gun violence. Colorado recently enacted red flag laws…
Bloomberg: 855 people a year get killed in Colorado. Think about that.
Sallinger: Do you support red flag laws?
Bloomberg: Red flag laws are a great idea. If you’ve got somebody in your family that you look at and say, wait a second, there’s something wrong, you’ve got to do something before they commit the crime or do something that could hurt you or others. Red flag laws make some sense as long as you have good judges.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Politics