Transcript - Interview: Donald Trump Interviewed by Lauer and Guthrie on NBC's The Today Show - May 4, 2016 | Factba.se

Savannah Guthrie

00:00:00 - 00:00:03 (3 sec)

And Donald Trump is with us now on the phone. Mr. Trump, good morning to you.

Donald Trump

00:00:03 - 00:00:04 (1 sec)

Savannah Guthrie

00:00:04 - 00:00:07 (3 sec)

Were you surprised that Ted Cruz dropped out of the race last night?

Donald Trump

00:00:07 - 00:00:26 (19 sec)

I was surprised. I did not expect it. I starting hearing rumors in the afternoon, but in the end, look, he was a very tough competitor. He fought very hard, and it was a tough decision for him to make. I think he did the right thing for himself and for the party. But it was a little bit of a surprise to me, yes.

Savannah Guthrie

00:00:26 - 00:00:30 (4 sec)

Have you reached out to call him? Has he called you?

Donald Trump

00:00:30 - 00:00:35 (5 sec)

I haven't yet. He hasn't. But I would certainly expect to be talking to Ted.

Matt Lauer

00:00:35 - 00:00:44 (9 sec)

Do you really think, Mr. Trump, that he can put aside all of the things you've said about him and he's said about you and support you?

Donald Trump

00:00:44 - 00:00:58 (14 sec)

I really don't know. And that goes for other people, too. I don't know. And you know, I hope so. It would be nice in Ted's case. In other cases, I don't care. In Ted's case, it would be nice. We had a very good relationship, as you know, for quite a long time. In fact, people were a little bit surprised by it.

Matt Lauer

00:00:58 - 00:00:59 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:00:59 - 00:01:08 (9 sec)

And it traveled along. And all of a sudden, you know, I was saying, when is this going to end? And it ended a couple of months ago. And you know, he fought very hard.

Matt Lauer

00:01:08 - 00:01:27 (19 sec)

One of the people we know you did speak to is Reince Priebus, the head of the RNC, who has now called you the presumptive nominee of the party. Can you characterize that phone call for me? Did he pledge to you that he will now put the weight of the entire party and all of the assets that it brings with it behind your candidacy?

Donald Trump

00:01:27 - 00:01:33 (6 sec)

Yes, he did. And he really -- you know, he's doing a very good job. Not an easy job.

Donald Trump

00:01:33 - 00:01:40 (7 sec)

We started off with 17 people. All very talented people. And he was put in a very tough position.

Donald Trump

00:01:40 - 00:02:13 (33 sec)

I think it's probably about the largest group of people ever. In fact, when I first announced just before that, there were pundits saying, this is the greatest group, one of the most talented groups of people in the history of either party to run for office. I almost said, what am I doing running? But the fact is that he called up last night. We had a great talk. He -- yeah, he's behind it 100 percent. The victory in Indiana was amazing because it was far greater than anybody thought. And it was, you know, very conclusive. And I think -- I think that really turned a lot of heads.

Savannah Guthrie

00:02:13 - 00:02:31 (18 sec)

Mr. Trump, this is a time that you are trying to unify the Republican Party. Yesterday morning, you went on a morning show and suggested that Ted Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, may have somehow been involved in, of all things, the JFK assassination. I guess my question to you is why in the world would you do that?

Donald Trump

00:02:31 - 00:02:40 (9 sec)

Savannah, I was on a show, and they played a clip of Ted's father, who was very active in the campaign. It's not like he is an inactive person.

Savannah Guthrie

00:02:40 - 00:02:42 (2 sec)

Yeah, but there's no evidence of this.

Donald Trump

00:02:42 - 00:03:06 (24 sec)

Excuse me. He said, you know, very nasty things about me. And then I just asked about stories that were appearing all over the place, not just in The National Enquirer, about the fact that a picture was taken of him and Lee Harvey Oswald. They didn't deny that picture. And I just asked, what was that all about? So this was just -- in response to some very, very nasty -- I mean, honestly, very, very nasty remarks that were made about me.

Matt Lauer

00:03:06 - 00:03:23 (17 sec)

But, Mr. Trump, I guess what Savannah is getting at here is, on the morning you had this in your grasp and you were seeing the polls indicating that you were going to win this, and perhaps go on to become the nominee, why take that opportunity at that moment to go back into the gutter?

Donald Trump

00:03:23 - 00:03:53 (30 sec)

Well, because I didn't know I had it in the grasp. I mean, I didn't know I was going to win by such a big margin. I won by a massive margin, and the people of Indiana, I'm so thankful to them. But I had no idea early in the morning that was -- the voting booths just starting -- the voting booths were practically not even opened when I made this call. It was a call to a show. And they ran a clip of some terrible remarks made by the father about me. And all I did is refer him to these articles that appeared about his picture. And -- you know, not such a bad thing.

Matt Lauer

00:03:53 - 00:04:02 (9 sec)

Just in closing here, in just ten seconds I have left, are you fully confident, Mr. Trump, that you can unite the Republican Party behind you?

Donald Trump

00:04:02 - 00:04:27 (25 sec)

I am confident that I can unite much of it. Some of it, I don't want. I mean, there were statements made about me that those people can go away and maybe come back in eight years after we serve two terms. But honestly, there are some people I really don't want. I don't think it is necessary. People will be voting for me, they're not voting for the party, and I think we're going to do really well against Hillary. She is a disaster, and she will be a disastrous president.

Matt Lauer

00:04:27 - 00:04:29 (2 sec)

Donald Trump. Congratulations on the big win in Indiana, Mr. Trump. [Video Ends]

Donald Trump

00:04:29 - 00:04:31 (2 sec)

Thank you very much.