(CNN) Former New York Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson says, "Mike Bloomberg is not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump."

Bloomberg "is not going to be afraid of Donald Trump. He has stood toe to toe with a lot tougher characters as mayor of New York, as a business leader," Wolfson told David Axelrod on The Axe Files , a podcast from The University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

"You don't get to be as successful as he has shying away from fights or being intimidated by people," Wolfson added.

Wolfson, who worked briefly in journalism before turning to politics, said he realized he would rather "be the person in the room than covering the people." Yet he believes his media background has given him valuable insight into the way politicians, especially President Trump, use the press to their advantage.

Trump "is a guy who mastered the New York City media environment," Wolfson said. "And he understood that if you could be in the paper every day, controlling the story, or being part of a story, you were three-quarters of the way towards your goal. ... I think he wakes up every day and instinctively understands that his goal for that day is to control that conversation."

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