Donald Trump insisted Tuesday that he has disavowed former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke several times, and slammed ex-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a "failed candidate" after
he tweeted that the issue was "disqualifying" for the front-runner.
"David Duke was disavowed," Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on
"Good Morning America."
"I disavowed him on Friday. I disavowed right after that because I thought if there was any question and you take a look at Twitter, almost immediately after on Twitter and Facebook, they were disavowed again. I disavowed him every time I speak to somebody, virtually, and they just keep it going. They keep it going and they said, 'oh, we never looked at your Twitter account.We never looked at Facebook.' I said 'take a look at Facebook. It was totally disavowed.'"
And as far as Romney, who has spoken out often against Trump, the front-runner said he should have won the 2012 race, "and he failed miserably. He was a terrible candidate for the Republicans."
Trump is under fire after a Sunday interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on the issue of Duke, who has not officially endorsed him but encouraged radio show listeners to protect their "heritage" by voting for the New Yorker.
On Tuesday, he told Stephanopoulos, after the TV reporter asked him if he was ready to make a "clear and unequivocal statement renouncing the support of all white supremacists," that he was.
"There's nobody that's done so much for equality as I can," said Trump. "In Palm Beach, Florida, I built a club, totally open to everybody that frankly set a new standard in clubs and a new standard in Palm Beach and I've gotten great credit for it. That is totally open to everybody. So, of course, I am."
Meanwhile, Trump said he is not worried by reports who say that establishment Republicans will not back his candidacy, telling Stephanopoulos he's received calls from people on both sides.
"If you look at any one of the primaries that I won, whether you go to New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada, you take a look, look at how many people have come out," said Trump.
He said he's also not concerned on polls that show him losing to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election matchup, but show his rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz losing to her.
"They're not going to get the nomination," he said. " haven't even focused on Hillary Clinton yet and I can tell you the one person that Hillary Clinton doesn't want to run against is me and I have that on good knowledge."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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