In an interview with POLITICO, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against people who criticized her following the attacks in Benghazi.
"Hillary, you know, I've worked with [when she was a] senator and just as a friend, that sort of thing. I think most of the criticisms of Hillary are totally unfounded - you can maybe disagree with her policies, but what'd you expect her to do in Benghazi?" he said. "I mean, it's that kind of cheap politics which I don't like. She's very competent."
The 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya -- which killed four Americans -- have prompted many Republicans to accuse Clinton of lying and not doing enough to prevent the incident. Currently, the Republican-controlled House is launching an investigation into the attacks.
Aside from Benghazi, Bloomberg also discussed his friendship former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016.
"Jeb's on the board of the [Bloomberg] Foundation," he said. "I think he did a very good job on education in Florida. He's good on education. He's good on immigration, and he's had the courage to stand up."
Bloomberg said both Bush and Clinton would make formidable presidential candidates.
"I have no idea whether she's going to run or he'll run. ... If the public had the choice between those two, I think there's two quality people. And they're very different ... they just have very different views of what government is ... [and] criticizing Jeb for some things is just as unfair as criticizing Hillary for some of these things."
Bloomberg, who most recently ran as an independent after registering as a Democrat and then Republican, expressed some sympathy for President Barack Obama over international issues -- including the missing Nigerian school girls.
"He doesn't need me second guessing his foreign policy," he said. "I think there's no easy answers whether you're dealing with Ukraine or Syria ... there's always two sides to it. For example, [regarding] sanctions against Russia, we have a lot of trade with Russia, but the bottom line is the Europeans aren't on board with us because [of their own dependence on Russia]."
