Bloomberg claims he wasn’t asked about stop and frisk until he ran for president. That’s not true.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg falsely claimed in an interview that aired Friday that “nobody asked” him about the controversial stop and frisk policing tactic until he started running for president, despite being asked about — and defending — the policy as recently as earlier this year.

Bloomberg’s claim came in response to a question from “CBS This Morning” anchor Gayle King, who asked about Bloomberg’s recent apology for the policy and noted that some people were suspicious of the timing as he was preparing to embark on a presidential run.

“Well, nobody asked me about it until I started running for president. So come on,” Bloomberg said.

“Are you saying to people that you realized you had made this mistake before, but you just didn’t mention it until now?” King followed up.

“I think we were overzealous at the time to do it,” Bloomberg responded. Our intent was to do anything we could to stop — the– carnage, the murder rate. And what was surprising is when we stopped doing it a little bit, we thought crime would go up. It didn’t. It went down.”

He continued, “So, you know, should have, would have, and could have. I can’t help that. But looking back, made a mistake. I’m sorry.”

Stop and frisk is a type of aggressive policing that allowed — some say encouraged — officers to detain a person on virtually any type of vague suspicion, search that individual without a warrant and arrest the person if any kind of illegal substance or weapon was found. Critics have slammed the measure as racist because it overwhelmingly impacts men of color.

Bloomberg was asked about stop and frisk in January, when he was initially considering a 2020 run. Bloomberg offered a robust defense of the New York Police Department’s tactics, suggesting it was effective in reducing the city’s murder rate while he was mayor.

Responding to a question at a press conference on Friday about how he answered the stop and frisk question during his interview with CBS, Bloomberg claimed he didn’t remember his January comments at the US Naval Academy conference.

“Somebody told me that I was asked another time and I quite honestly didn’t remember it,” he said. “After I left city government, you don’t focus on certain things. More recently, I’ve talked to people who were stopped and I had discussions about what it meant to them. And we talked about what I’ve always tried to do and continue to do, which is bring down crime.”

The policing approach, officially called “Stop, question and frisk,” sparked a backlash from activists throughout Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor because it disproportionately affected African American and Latino men. The tactic was arguably among the most controversial Bloomberg supported during his three terms as mayor, and he was confronted throughout his tenure by journalists and activists over the issue.

New York’s stop-and-frisk policy was found to be unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2013 and Mayor Bill de Blasio, after vowing to end it in 2014, ultimately dropped the city’s appeal of that decision.

Bloomberg dropped his longstanding support of the policy last month days before announcing his presidential bid.

“But I can’t change history, however today I want you to know that I realize back then I was wrong and I’m sorry,” said Bloomberg in front of the congregation at a predominantly African American megachurch in Brooklyn, New York.