Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg said in 2016 that his endorsement of President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign was “backhanded” and wondered if then-GOP nominee Mitt Romney would’ve made a better president, according to newly leaked audio.

“The second Obama election I wrote a very backhanded endorsement of Obama,” Bloomberg said at a private Goldman Sachs event at Yankee Stadium in June 2016, according to audio sent by anonymous user “CancelGoldman” to CNN.

“[I said] I thought he hadn’t done the right thing, hadn’t done, hadn’t been good at things that I think are important and Romney would be a better person at doing that. But Romney did not stick with the values that he had when he was governor of Massachusetts,” the former New York City mayor said to event attendees.

In 2011, Bloomberg, a harsh critic of Obama at times, reluctantly endorsed the Democratic incumbent in his re-election campaign.

When asked during the event to share his views on the rise of the far right in Europe, Bloomberg seized the moment to attack the rise of the progressives in the United States.

“The left is arising. The progressive movement is just as scary. Elizabeth Warren on one side. And whoever you want to pick on the Republicans on the right side?” the billionaire businessman said.

In response, Warren began using the quote overnight to fundraise, launching the site ScareMichaelBloomberg.com and sharing on her social media.

In a statement regarding the former Republican’s comments on Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said, “Now we know that behind closed doors, Bloomberg described his last-minute endorsement of President Obama in 2012 as ‘very backhanded’ and said that he thought ‘Romney would be a better person at doing’ the ‘things that I think are important.’ Bloomberg may have changed his voter registration but he’s still a Republican at heart.”

A spokesperson for Bloomberg’s campaign could not immediately be reached for comment by The Post, but Stu Loeser, a Bloomberg senior adviser, told CNN, “Everyone who read Mike’s endorsement of President Obama saw that it was aimed at convincing Americans who saw merit in both candidates to vote for Obama. President Obama didn’t need Mike Bloomberg to get out the vote from the strongest Obama voters.

“What Mike could and did do for President Obama is much like what he could and did do for Hillary Clinton when he spoke at the Democratic Convention in 2016 — convince Americans who weren’t already convinced of voting for the Democrat.”