ABC’s World News Tonight aired a preview clip on Tuesday of Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos’s interview with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in which Trump battled the former Clinton official over remarks he made during his announcement speech about illegal immigration and his plans to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
With the full interview slated to air on Wednesday’s Good Morning America, anchor David Muir noted that Trump’s decision to jump into the race comes “24 hours after Jeb Bush” as he’s “the 12th Republican candidate” to join the field.
The clip began when Stephanopoulos asked Trump: “Mexico, you say we're going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. How are you going to do that?” Trump initially responded that he would “because Mexico is the new China” and “is ripping us more than any other country” in that “[t]hey’re killing us at the border, sending in the illegals and they're not sending their best and finest, you heard in my speech.”
When Stephanopoulos again pressed Trump on how he would get the country to pay for it, Trump began to state that “you have people like we have” before the This Week host interrupted to further inquire: “You’re calling them an enemy, aren’t you?”
In the final portion of the clip, Trump responded: “George, George, Mexico does not like us. Mexico is not our friend. Mexico is the new China. Mexico will pay – you mark me words. I win, Mexico pays.”
Fellow networks CBS and NBC also covered Trump’s entrance into the 2016 race with full segments. On NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd joined fill-in anchor Savannah Guthrie for analysis with Todd mentioning his many years of flirting with a presidential run and his “birther tear” regarding President Obama:
Let's not forget, four years ago, this man went on a birther tear by buying into the conspiracy theory about the President of the United States. The interesting thing here, Savannah, is all the other Republican candidates don't want him on that debate stage, but they are afraid of saying it. Why? As you know and I know, he's a media bully and they don't want to get into a mud fight with him.
Over on the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley quipped in one of the program’s opening teases that “[t]he Donald sounds the trumpets and blows his own horn” with his announcement in New York on Monday morning.
The transcript of the segment from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on June 16 can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
June 16, 2015
6:43 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Trump Running]
DAVID MUIR: Now to the race 2016. Tonight, 24 hours after Jeb Bush, tonight, another familiar face making it official now. Donald Trump on the stage right there, greeted by his daughter Ivanka. He is now the 12th Republican candidate, telling our own George Stephanopoulos tonight about his own plan on immigration, building a wall around Mexico.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ABC News Exclusive]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mexico, you say we're going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. How are you going to do that?
DONALD TRUMP: Absolutely because Mexico is the new China. Mexico is ripping us more than any other country. They're killing us at the border, sending in the illegals and they're not sending their best and finest, you heard in my speech.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But how are you going to get Mexico to pay for a wall?
TRUMP: You have people like we have –
STEPHANOPOULOS: You're calling them an enemy, aren’t you?
TRUMP: George, George, Mexico does not like us. Mexico is not our friend. Mexico is the new China. Mexico will pay – you mark me words. I win, Mexico pays.
MUIR: George with Donald Trump and you can see all of George's interview with Trump tomorrow morning on Good Morning America and we should note tomorrow night here, I'll be on the campaign trial with Jeb Bush live from Iowa. We’ll be covering his campaign every step of the way.
