Trump Doubles Down on Whether Mitt Romney Is Really a Mormon

On Friday, Donald Trump questioned whether Mitt Romney is actually Mormon. “I have many friends that live in Salt Lake City — and by the way, Mitt Romney is not one of them,” Trump said during a Salt Lake City speech. ”Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?” 

This is the third time Trump has questioned the faith of one of his opponents, despite having criticized the practice of questioning other people’s faith, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pointed out this morning during an interview with Trump.

“Why do you keep doing it?” he asked.

Here’s Trump’s reply:

With Mitt Romney — well, first of all, with Mitt Romney, I was saying to the Mormons, Mormons are very smart people. And I said it in a joking way, but they can take it, you can take it any way you want. The Mormons are very smart people. I know many Mormons. I don’t think Mitt Romney is a smart person. I never have thought he was a smart person, but the Mormons are very smart people. So I  said, are you sure he’s a Mormon? And I’m not going to change it because I think Mitt Romney has proven to be not a smart person. As far as Ted Cruz, he’s one of the greatest liars and biggest liars I have ever known. He lies about so much. He lies about things that he shouldn’t be lying about. He lies about things that don’t matter. I tell people, and I think that’s why Ted Cruz has lost the Evangelical vote, look what he did with Ben Carson, who has endorsed me. Look what he did to Ben Carson. He said Ben Carson in Iowa has left. He’s out of the campaign, vote for me. Thousands of people voted for him because he convinced people that Ben Carson had left the campaign. He knew Ben Carson did not leave the campaign.