Bloomberg campaign responds to Trump insults by attacking president’s ‘fake hair, obesity, spray-on tan’

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Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 campaign has responded to Donald Trump’s late-night tweetstorm, in which he accused the former New York City mayor of rigging the upcoming elections, calling the president a “pathological liar” in a statement.

Julie Wood, spokesperson for the billionaire presidential hopeful, put it simply in a statement to CNN: “The president is lying.”

She added: “He is a pathological liar who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity, his spray-on tan.”

The comments came after Mr Trump posted a series of angry tweets directed at the latest Democrat to launch a bid for the White House, saying Mr Bloomberg was “going nowhere” and “wasting his money” by spending millions on campaign advertising in recent months.

Both Mr Trump and Mr Bloomberg are spending $10m (£7.6m) each on advertisements for their campaigns during the Super Bowl, a coveted and high-priced advertising opportunity.

Mr Trump also claimed Mr Bloomberg — who he has dubbed “Mini Mike” — was “negotiating both to get on the Democrat Primary debate stage, and to have the right to stand on boxes, or a lift, during the debates.”

“This is sometimes done,” the president claimed, “but really not fair!”

Mr Bloomberg later responded to the president’s tweets, saying: “I stand twice as tall as he does on the stage that matters.”

He also quoted a tweet Mr Trump wrote claiming that “many of the ads you are watching were paid for by Mini Mike Bloomberg,” writing: “Looks like our ads are keeping you up at night.”

“We’ve got one in particular you should watch today”, Mr Bloomberg added.

While the president’s Super Bowl ads would focus on how his administration has supposedly made the country “safer” and “more prosperous”, Mr Bloomberg’s 60-second spot would focus on the issue of gun violence and the work the former New York City mayor has done to combat the issue.

Mr Bloomberg has already greatly outspent all other Democratic presidential candidates in the field in terms of advertising, dropping a reported $250m (£189m) since announcing his candidacy in November 2019.

He previously said the decision to focus on gun safety during the Super Bowl spot was “because it matters to communities across the country and it will be a top priority for me as president.”

“All Americans — including people in both parties and a majority of gun owners — support universal background checks and other common sense gun laws”, the former mayor added.