Donald Trump invoked the name of the wrong Evangelical supporter during a campaign speech Tuesday in Rome, N.Y.
Trump, the leading Republican in the race for president, said he is supported by Iowan Bob Vander Plaats, with whom he clashed earlier this year.
"We've had so many great endorsements, with Gov. [Chris] Christie and with Sarah Palin and with everybody, Vander Plaats, our friend Bob Vander Plaats from Liberty University," Trump said, according to
CNN.
Trump meant to say Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr., a fact the campaign confirmed to CNN.
Vander Plaats actually supports Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP presidential race. He commented on Trump's gaffe afterward.
Trump gave a speech at Liberty University in January, and vowed to
"protect Christianity" as president.
"Christianity is under siege," Trump said. "Very bad things are happening … Somehow we have to unify, we have to band together, we have to do really in a really large version what they've done at Liberty ... You band together, you've created one of the great universities, colleges anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world, and that's what our country has to do around Christianity."
Before Trump's speech at Liberty, Falwell called the real estate mogul
"a breath of fresh air in a nation where the political establishment from both parties has betrayed their constituencies time and time again with broken promises and a continuation of the status quo."
Three days later,
Trump criticized Vander Plaats in a series of tweets, calling him "a total phony and dishonest guy."
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