Bloomberg catching heat from black Democratic lawmakers for stop-and-frisk

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been apologizing for 'stop and frisk' since declaring for president; reaction from talk show host Tony Katz.Prominent black Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called on Mike Bloomberg to more forcefully disavow his controversial stop-and-frisk policy amid newly unearthed footage of the former mayor backing the practice targeting minorities -- as Bloomberg accused the GOP of trying to exploit racial divisions.Old video and audio footage dug up this week shows Bloomberg wholeheartedly defending the police profiling young New Yorkers – “male, minorities, 16-25” – as a way to cut down on crime. In another clip, he argued that minorities are stopped “too little” compared with white people.BLOOMBERG HEARD IN 2015 AUDIO CLIP DEFENDING ‘STOP AND FRISK,’ THROWING MINORITY KIDS AGAINST WALL: REPORTThe new footage “creates an opportunity -- it may create a necessity -- for a clear and concise explanation of why he did it and why he now denounces it,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who is backing presidential primary rival Joe Biden.Bloomberg, a Democratic candidate for president, kicked off his White House bid by apologizing for stop-and-frisk policing that disproportionately affected minorities in New York City and was panned by critics as racial profiling.“It’s clear that lives were damaged as a result of stop and frisk,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “Basically putting all these minorities into one category calling them murderers and murder victims and basically saying that’s why we are sending all these cops over to these minority communities, it's horrific.”Trump has been a vocal supporter of stop and frisk and said it “worked incredibly well” in New York and called for it to be implemented nationwide back in 2016.Bloomberg Tuesday afternoon re-upped his apology and accused Trump of his own racist appeals.“President Trump’s deleted tweet is the latest example of his endless efforts to divide Americans,” Bloomberg said in a statement.