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Donald Trump on Monday morning blamed a “bad earpiece” after he fails to condemn former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in a weekend television interview.
“I’m sitting in a house in Florida, with a very bad earpiece,” Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, told NBC’s “Today” show. Trump said he could “hardly hear” what CNN host Jake Tapper was saying in a Sunday interview when he asked Trump about Duke.
Tapper asked Trump whether he would disavow Duke and white supremacist groups that are supporting his presidential campaign.
“Just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke, OK?” Trump said Sunday.
Trump had said Friday he knew about Duke, during a Friday news conference, in which he said: “David Duke endorsed me? OK, all right. I disavow, OK?”
On the “Today” show, Trump said: “What I heard was ‘various groups.’ And I don’t mind disavowing anybody and I disavowed David Duke.”
At least one of Trump’s rivals was holding fast to the comments even after the billionaire businessman offered his explanation about the earpiece. Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, said “Ku Klux Klan comes through pretty clearly.”
Rubio: "I don't care how bad the earpiece is Ku Klux Klan comes through pretty clearly."
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) February 29, 2016
Rubio, Trump and the other Republican hopefuls are preparing to face each other in Tuesday’s contests, when voters in 11 states award delegates.
Ahead of “Super Tuesday,” Trump expanded his lead in a new CNN/ORC national poll. The survey of Republican voters showed him with the support of nearly half — 49% — of Republican voters to nearest rival Rubio’s 16%.
