Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign took a hit as a recording surfaced from a 2015 speech defending New York City’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy.

The billionaire Democrat and former three-term mayor of New York City, who had recently apologized for backing the police procedure, could be heard defending it in the 2015 speech he gave to the Aspen Institute.

“Ninety-five percent of murders- murderers and murder victims fit one M.O. You can just take a description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops,” he said during remarks heard in the audio shared on Twitter by progressive podcaster Benjamin Dixon.

“They are male, minorities, 16-25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city (inaudible). And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed,” Bloomberg is heard saying.

“So one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods,” Bloomberg continued.

“Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them up against the wall and frisk them… And then they start… ‘Oh I don’t want to get caught.’ So they don’t bring the gun. They still have a gun, but they leave it at home,” he said.

Audio of @MikeBloomberg’s 2015 @AspenInstitute speech where he explains that “you can just Xerox (copy)” the description of male, minorities 16-25 and hand to cops. Bloomberg had video of speech blocked. Perhaps because of the problematic explanation he gives for #StopAndFrisk pic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy — Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020

Bloomberg, who according to the latest aggregate. of surveys from RealClearPolitics is in fourth place in the Democratic presidential race, recently apologized for his administration’s controversial “stop and frisk” policy though he had spent years defending it.

Speaking at a predominantly black church in Brooklyn last November, Bloomberg said he didn’t realize the impact the policy, which was later repealed, had on black and Latino communities.

“I got something important really wrong. I didn’t understand back then the full impact that stops were having on the black and Latino communities. I was totally focused on saving lives — but as we know, good intentions aren’t good enough,” he said.

“Today, I want you to know that I realize that back then I was wrong,” he said. “And I’m sorry.”

The 2020 hopeful, who is funding his campaign with his personal wealth, came under fire for his about-face and is now facing the heat over the newly-surfaced audio where he defended the policy. The footage from the event was blocked from being circulated at the time, according to The Aspen Times.

Bloomberg requested the video not be released. Perhaps because of his explanation for #stopandfrisk, admitting that all the cops are sent to minority neighborhoods and, “yes we’re arresting minorities for marijuana” but “that’s where the crime is,” https://t.co/MptDeupSbi — Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020

One of the outlet’s former reporters, Karl Herchenroeder, had uploaded the entire audio of Bloomberg’s speech to YouTube five years ago, according to Newsweek.

The audio clip shared on Twitter has been viewed over 3 million times and sparked a renewed backlash against Bloomberg.

Spread this everywhere. Bloomberg’s gotta go down. — CashRulesErrthingRou (@CashErrthing) February 10, 2020

Once the entire minority community hears about “Stop and Frisk” no way in hell they vote for Bloomberg. #BernieSanders2020 — Cole Walker (@walkercole77) February 11, 2020

Of course Bloomberg apologized for #StopAndFrisk, but his racist explanation and justification of it in the video he had blocked shows that he operates from a deeply troubling framework that he would undoubtedly bring to the White House. — Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020

Michael Bloomberg says white people are stopped too much by cops and black people aren’t stopped enough… Seriously. If you need the #BloombergIsRacist hashtag to know Michael Bloomberg is a racist you haven’t been paying attention. https://t.co/awgTScdhnq — citizen uprising (@cit_uprising) February 11, 2020

The funny thing about the #BloombergIsRacist hashtag is that there’s a *TON* of videos of Bloomberg smugly defending his Stop and Frisk shit. @BilldeBlasio was elected primarily on a platform attacking Bloomberg’s legacy as mayor, and is still today his fiercest critic. — Brobrah (@BroBrahSama) February 11, 2020

Some twitter users offered a different perspective:

I may catch hell for posting this evidence that violent crime dropped under Bloomberg, but that’s a price I’ll pay for sharing the truth. Yes, the words appear racist. But it’s a mighty thin pancake with only one side. And I support Amy Klobuchar.https://t.co/XhbySs0ZPE — maninthebooth (@maninthebooth1) February 11, 2020

But many agreed with actor James Woods, who recently made a Twitter comeback: