Trump: ‘I Think People Knew That There Were No WMD’ in Iraq

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” when asked if President George W. Bush lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction which was the justification for the war, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said “I think that people knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction. I think they wanted to go in there.”

Partial transcript as follows:

TODD: I want to go to the debate last night. Your 2008 comments about George W. Bush were brought up and this idea that you were surprised at the time that then Speaker Pelosi had ruled out impeachment. did you believe that — and I just want to clarify this, did you believe that there was enough there to bring up impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush in 2008 over Iraq?

TRUMP: No. I was in the private sector, so I didn’t think about it too much. But certainly the war in Iraq was a disaster. No, not to be impeached, but the war in Iraq it was a mistake. He just made a mistake. We went into Iraq, we lost thousands of lives.

TODD: But you don’t believe it’s an impeachable offense now? You were implying it might be in 2008.

TRUMP: Well, that’s for other people to say. Look, that is for other people to say. I can say this, it may not have been impeachable because it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake. But it was a horrible mistake. Number one, there were no weapons of mass destruction. So did they know there weren’t or not? That would tell you something right there. But there were no weapons of mass destruction. Chuck, the war in Iraq was a disaster. We end up with absolutely nothing. Iran is taking over Iraq as we sit here right now. And as sure as you can be an is doing pretty well worldwide. They take $150 billion, we get nothing. They’re taking over Iraq. They’re getting the oil. It was a disastrous decision the war in Iraq and unfortunately Bush happened to be president.

TODD: You were saying President Bush lied. How do you know he lied about WMD?

TRUMP: I think that people knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction. I think they wanted to go in there. I think they thought it would have been easier. They didn’t prosecute the war well. It wasn’t well prosecuted and they ended up leaving. — I mean, leaving. now, I have to say he made a mistake getting in. And I’m the only one on the stage that said we should not go into Iraq. That the war in Iraq is a mistake. Everyone else said, oh, you know, all the other people on stage I should get points for vision. Because everybody.

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