Trump: President Obama Is ‘Very Capable of Defending Himself, Believe Me’
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Let’s get into this controversy that’s come up over the last two days. I saw your tweets yesterday, where you say you didn’t have a moral responsibility when that questioner got up and said those things about President Obama. But this is getting a lot of attention in part because you’ve raised questions like this in the past. So for the record, was President Obama born in the United States?”
TRUMP: “Well, you know, I don’t get into it, George. I talk about jobs. I’m talking about the military. I don’t get into it. I mean, he asked that question and I just want to talk about the things because frankly it’s of no longer interest to me. We’re beyond that. And it’s just something I don’t talk about. I want to talk about the military. I want to talk about the vets and how badly they’re treated. I want to talk about jobs. I don’t get into that, George.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: But the way to get beyond it is to answer yes or no. Do you believe — “ [crosstalk]
TRUMP: “Well, that’s possible. But I don’t get into it. And I just don’t talk about it.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “So — and even though you’ve raised questions and you’ve investigated it in the past, you’re still —“
TRUMP: “Well, you know, people thought I should have defended. Some people thought I should have defended the president in terms of the question that was asked the other night. And my attitude is, would he have done that for me? If somebody said that about me. And you know, he’s been — he — he’s very capable of defending himself, believe me. So we’ll see what happens. But I think the tweets really covered it very well and very accurately. Somebody said they were excellent. They covered the subject. And I actually — it was very interesting because I got in hot water over not saying anything. The first time it’s ever happened to me.” [crosstalk]
TRUMP: “I didn’t say anything and everybody was going crazy over the weekend. And this is something where I didn’t even say anything.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “But I take that point. But you’ve raised these questions so often in the past, why can’t you just say definitively yes or no —“
TRUMP: “Well, I haven’t raised the question.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “— Obama was born in the United States. You’ve raised it many times. And he’s not a Muslim.”
TRUMP: “George, you have raised the question. I haven’t raised the question. I don’t talk about it and I don’t like talking about somebody else’s faith. He talks about his faith and he can do that. But I don’t talk about other people’s faith. It’s not appropriate for me to talk about somebody else’s faith.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “The other big premise of that question was he said that Muslims are a problem in this country. Do you agree?”
TRUMP: “Well, in some cases, George. We can say no and you can be politically correct and say everything’s wonderful. But I haven’t seen people from Sweden going back and leaving after the bombing of the World Trade Center. So certainly it’s a problem and there is a problem —“
STEPHANOPOULOS: “What is the problem —“ [crosstalk]
TRUMP: “— and at the same time, excuse me, at the same time, we have fabulous people living here, Muslims. And they have done fantastically well. But certainly it is a problem. You look around the world, it is a problem. And you know, if I want to say, oh, no, not at all, people would laugh at me. Now it may be the right thing to say and I really don’t care what the right thing to say is. Certainly what’s happening with some Muslims and, you know, the terrorism and everything else, it seems to be pretty much confined there. So it is a problem and we can say no. But it is.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “So then what specifically is the problem with the Muslims in the United States that you would want to address as president?”
TRUMP: Well, only that there seems to be, to a certain extent — and this is not all — most are fabulous and I say that number one point, most are fabulous. And I have friends that are Muslims. And by the way, they say there is a problem with certain militants that obviously you report on every night on your newscasts. But there is a problem with militancy and it is something that is going to have to be solved.”
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Let’s talk...”
TRUMP: “And I don’t mean a problem here. I mean this is a worldwide problem.”
