New York (CNN)Donald Trump is standing his ground.
The
billionaire businessman was unapologetic -- and as defiant as ever --
about a number of controversies that have inundated his presidential
campaign in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that
aired on Wednesday and Thursday.
The
brash real estate mogul and former host of the reality TV show, "The
Apprentice," has come under attack for referring to some immigrants
coming into the United States as "rapists." Trump also addressed head-on
a Washington Post report that said there were illegal immigrants
working at one of Trump's hotel construction sites in Washington. And he
said he still isn't totally convinced President Barack Obama was born
in this country.
Speaking
at the Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, Trump also took on his fellow
presidential candidates and insisted of his long-shot White House bid:
"I'm in it to win it."
Trump: I can't guarantee all my workers are legal 03:54
The Republican field
Trump
has surged in national polls recently, but the competition he faces is
fierce. In the interview, Trump did not have many kind words for his
opponents in the large GOP field.
"Bush is weak on immigration. Forget about his stance on Common Core, which is a total disaster," Trump said of Jeb Bush.
Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio is also "extremely weak" on immigration, Trump said,
adding: "If he ever got elected, you would have people flown across the
border."
He mused that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham seems to want to "bomb everybody."
"All I know is that every time I watch Lindsey Graham he wants to bomb everybody. Let's bomb everybody," he said.
Trump also criticized the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, for failing to energize the party's base.
"He
didn't appeal to a lot of people. He didn't appeal to conservative
Republicans," Trump said. "I said to Mitt Romney and his people, why
aren't you on television the last two three weeks? Why aren't you doing
television now? They were sitting around, taking it easy. He choked."
Obama's birthplace
Not that long ago, Trump was an outspoken skeptic about whether Obama was born in the United States.
Now, he insists he's not really interested in talking about the issue.
"Honestly,
I don't want to get into it," Trump said. "I'm about jobs, I'm about
the military, I'm about doing the right thing for this country."
But to be clear, Trump is still not totally convinced that Obama was born in the country.
"I don't know. I really don't know," he said. "I don't know why he wouldn't release his records."
In 2011, Obama released his original long-form birth certificate in response to speculation about his birthplace.
'Can't guarantee' legal status of his own workers
Trump
said Wednesday that he "can't guarantee" that all of the workers he
employs have legal status in the United States, and warned that if he
were to discover any illegal immigrants working for him, "We would get
rid of them immediately."
A recent Washington Post
report that said there are illegal immigrants working at the Old Post
Office Pavilion construction site in Washington, which Trump is
converting into a luxury hotel.
Trump
said that the buck "absolutely" stops with him and that he wished the
Post article had named the alleged illegal workers so he could take
prompt action.
"We have gone out of our
way to make sure that everybody in that building is legal," he said. "I
wish they would give us some names, we would get them out immediately."
Trump: No regrets about re-tweet 01:17
'Mexican' tweet about Jeb Bush's wife
Trump addressed a racially charged tweet this week that further fueled the ongoing controversy about his views on immigrants.
His account, @realDonaldTrump, retweeted the message: "#JebBush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife."
According to The Wrap, which captured a screen grab of the tweet, the tweet was deleted soon after.
Trump said in the CNN interview that he had never authorized that retweet, but was nevertheless unapologetic.
"Do I regret it? No, I don't regret it," Trump said.
He said that he believed the immigration stance of fellow GOP presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush may be influenced by his wife's background.
"If
he loves his wife and she's from Mexico, I think it probably has an
influence on him, yes. I can understand that." Trump said.
The death of Kate Steinle
An undocumented immigrant has been accused of fatally shooting a woman in San Francisco named Kate Steinle.
That tragedy, in Trump's opinion, represents precisely what's wrong with the country's immigration system.
"This
man, or this animal, that shot that wonderful, that beautiful woman in
San Francisco, this guy was pushed back by Mexico," Trump said. "Mexico
pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug
dealers."
As he has in the past, Trump
pledged that as president, he would build an "impenetrable" wall along
the country's southern border to keep out unwanted individuals.
Unfazed by corporate backlash
In
the aftermath of his inflammatory comments about immigrants,
corporations across the country announced that they would no longer do
business with Trump.
But even as
companies like Macy's, NBC and ESPN have turned their backs on Trump,
the former reality TV star has remained defiant, even doubling down on
his original remarks.
On Wednesday,
Trump dismissed the business deals he's lost in the last few weeks,
saying they've hardly put a dent in his massive wealth.
"Here's the good news. I'm very rich," Trump said. "The money you're talking about is a lot but it's peanuts for me."
Donald Trump: 'Everybody loves me' 01:28
Donations to Democrats
Although
Trump is now seeking the Republican Party's nomination for president,
he has given generously to Democrats in the past.
Trump's past beneficiaries include the Democratic National Committee, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and even Hillary Clinton, whom Trump referred to as the "worst secretary of state in the history of the United States" on Wednesday.
The businessman defended his previous donations to Democrats, chalking them up as a necessary business decision.
"As
a businessman in New York City, I have to get along with Democrats," he
said. "If I don't get along with Democrats, I'm sort of like, out of
business."
He dismissed the accusation
from some Republicans that his past financial support for those across
the aisle makes him a flip-flopper.
"I get along with everybody. People love me," he said. "Everybody loves me."
Trump: I would 'bomb the hell' out of Iraqi oil fields 01:26
Fighting ISIS
President Trump's strategy for fighting ISIS? "Bomb the hell out of those oil fields."
Trump,
who has long been openly critical of the the Obama administration's
foreign policy strategy, said Wednesday that "nobody would be tougher on
ISIS than Donald Trump."
The best
strategy for knocking out ISIS is to take away their wealth, Trump said,
by destroying oil fields in Iraq that are controlled by ISIS.
"I would bomb the hell out of those oil fields," Trump said.
He added that once the oil fields are destroyed, he would deploy big oil companies like Exxon to rebuilt them.
"They would rebuild them so fast your head will spin," he said.
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