Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said in a campaign ad released Wednesday that he led New York City through 9/11, though he did not take over as mayor of the city until several months after the devastating attacks.

“I led a complex, diverse city through 9/11, and I have common sense plans to move America away from chaos to progress,” Bloomberg said in a 30-second campaign ad called “It Won’t Work.” (RELATED: ‘Throw Them Against The Wall’: Bloomberg Aggressively Defended Stop And Frisk In 2015)

Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul, took over as mayor on Jan. 1, 2002, succeeding Rudy Giuliani.

CNN and NBC News aired the ad Wednesday evening, according to a search of TV monitoring service Grabien. Bloomberg is appearing Wednesday in his first Democratic debate.

Bloomberg’s ad criticized President Donald Trump and said the Republican will try to win the 2020 election by “attacking, distorting, dividing.”

WATCH:

Bloomberg’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.