THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON February 21, 2016 and it will be updated.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Let's take this now to Donald Trump.
And Mr. Trump, thank you for joining us this morning.
Congratulations on your victory last night.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think you have this nomination in hand?
TRUMP: No, no, not at all. I mean, look, I'm -- I'm dealing with very talented people, very smart people, great politicians. And Ben Carson is still in, I understand, and he's a terrific guy and a talented guy. So, you know, I'm dealing with very smart people, talented people. So I'd never take it for granted.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You said last night we go back to war tomorrow morning.
So who is your toughest competition right now, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz?
TRUMP: I think they're both tough. I think they're all tough. I mean everybody in this is tough. They're all very accomplished people.
But I would say this, I was hit very, very hard yesterday by Ted, because he did two robo calls, one on the Confederate flag, which was, you know, very tough and unfair. But -- and one on a -- I guess, gay marriage. And they were -- one came on at 9:00 in the morning in Election Day. This is something I didn't anticipate. And one came on about 12:00 in the afternoon, during the election.
So I said to myself, wow, this is a tough business. These people are worse than Manhattan real estate developers. This is rough stuff, politics.
And I thought that really that maybe they would have a bigger effect than they did. You know, I didn't know I was going to win by that much. And we won by a lot. You know, we won every congressional district, also we got every single delegate. So that was -- that was sort of record-setting stuff.
But they really hit me hard with negative ads.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You're hitting them pretty hard as well. You actually sent out a retweet yesterday, suggesting that Marco Rubio might be ineligible to be president, a tweet that said both Cruz and Rubio are ineligible to be POTUS.
Do you really believe that?
TRUMP: I think the lawyers have to determine that that -- and not -- it was a retweet, not so much with Marco. I'm not really that familiar with Marco's circumstances --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: But then why retweet it?
TRUMP: -- problem but I think that -- because I'm not sure. I mean, let people make their own determination. I know Ted is being now -- I think he's being sued by somebody having nothing to do with me, by the way.
Is being sued by somebody. Maybe it's in New York, having to do with eligibility --
STEPHANOPOULOS: You're really not sure that Marco Rubio is eligible to run for president?
You're really not sure?
TRUMP: I don't know. I really -- I've never looked at it, George. I honestly have never looked at it. As somebody said, he's not. And I retweeted it. I have 14 million people between Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and I retweet things and we start dialogue and it's very interesting. And maybe that's why I have 14 million people (INAUDIBLE) 200 people, I don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think as you get on this path to the nomination, you're the clear right front-runner right now, as we said, you're in command of this race, you're going to have to be more careful about the kind of things you say and tweet?
TRUMP: Well, I didn't know I was going to win by so much yesterday, you didn't, either. I mean nobody thought I was going to win by that much. That was bigger than the polls.
You know, the polls were saying I'd win by 3 or 4 points and I won by more than 10 points. And that was a lot. They were saying that I'd get some of the congressional districts but certainly not all of them. I got all of them.
So I had no idea I was going to win by that much, certainly after the robocalls, I never figured I was going to win by that much.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Think the Republican establishment might close ranks right now and really try to come down hard on you and block you from this nomination?
And if they do, is it still possible that you would run as an independent in the general election?
TRUMP: No, I don’t think that's much of a possibility. I don't think I'm being treated fairly by the RNC because every time I walk into a -- into a debate -- you know, I'm self-funding my campaign. So I'm not getting money from special interests and, you know, the big drug companies, et cetera, whereas everybody else is. Everybody on both sides.
But everybody else is. And I walk in and they have all special interests, lobbyists and donors sitting in the room. And I don't have any donors. I don't have any special interests. I don't have any lobbyists.
So I walk in, it's like dead silence except for my wife and kids. And these guys walk in and they say something that is stupid or not even good and they get standing ovations every time they open their mouth. It's very unfair in terms of the debates, I think.
And I think I had my best debate last time. Some people don't. Some people think the New York values debate was better. But I thought I had my best debate. I was really being hit from all sides. But it's very unfair when a room is so stacked.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So if you win, is it a hostile takeover of the GOP?
TRUMP: No, not at all. You know, I was a member of the establishment of the GOP. I say proudly. I was -- I gave $350,000 to the Republican Governors' Association, you know, before the June 15th -- before I ran, before June 16th. And I gave tremendous amounts of money to people in the Republican Party. I gave to everybody. And I was very establishment.
And then once I ran, they said, well, wait a minute, what's going on? That's not supposed to happen because he doesn’t need our money and you know, they like to control, the people. They like to control the senators and the congressmen and so that when they go for military awards and when they go for pharmaceutical awards, they make sure they get it.
And I'm going to do what's right for the country. You know, as a self-funder, I'm the only one. And as a self-funder, I'm going to do what's right.
So you know, that -- in that way, it's certainly different. But ultimately, that's going to be good for the party because we're going to win the election. You know, I -- two polls came out recently, where I beat Hillary Clinton and I beat Bernie Sanders. I don't think Bernie Sanders is going to be the problem. I think Hillary will be the one that I'm competing against unless she has legal problems, which will be determined.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, Mr. Trump, you told me several months ago you'd be releasing your tax returns. And "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page came out yesterday and said Mr. Trump should release his returns going back at least a decade before Super Tuesday on March 1st so Republican voters can know what they're voting for.
If Mr. Trump's tax records are as very beautiful as he says, he should be eager to release them for public scrutiny.
Will you release them by Super Tuesday?
Don't Republican voters have a right to know?
TRUMP: Well, first, no, I won't. No, no, no, I won't. I'm working on it. We're working on, they're massive. You saw pictures of me. But let me tell you about "The Wall Street Journal." I have no respect whatsoever for "The Wall Street Journal." I don't think they know what they're doing. They have taken me on so much it's so ridiculous. Every day, editorials, bad editorials, and they had a poll come out, which was so wrong. I said they should fire their pollster and they should fire their editorial staff because I think these are people that don't know what they're doing.
I don't even want to read it very much anymore. They're so wrong.
But if you look at their polls that they came out with one day and two days, two polls before the election, they turned out to be so wrong that they should honestly they should fire their pollster. So I don’t care what "The Wall Street Journal" says, what they say doesn’t -- and, in fact, if anything, I would do the opposite because then it'll turn out to be more correct.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no release before you're a nominee?
TRUMP: No, at some point. Well, they'll talk about it. At some point we'll release. There's no rush.
Why is there such a rush?
I'm supposed to rush like crazy?
By the way, I released my financial statements which are much more important. I released my financial statements and everybody was amazed at how big and how great the company is, much bigger than they thought and it's a great company. Very little debt, tremendous cash flow, some of the best assets in the world.
And I say that only because that's the kind of thinking the United States needs now because our country is in financial trouble and military trouble. We're in every kind of trouble you can have. Our country's a mess. We're going to strengthen the border. We're going to do all of the things that you and I have been talking about for a long time now, George. And it's going to be great.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Trump, thanks for joining us this morning.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And we are joined now by the number two finisher in South Carolina, Senator Marco Rubio. Thanks for joining us this morning.
And, Senator Rubio, we just heard --
RUBIO: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- Donald Trump say he's not sure you're eligible to run for president.
Your response?
RUBIO: Well, this is -- look, this is a pattern. This is a game he plays. He says something that's edgy and outrageous and then the media flocks and covers that and then no one else can get any coverage on anything else.
And that worked when there were 15 people running for president. It's not going to work anymore. I'm going to spend zero time on his interpretation of the Constitution with regards to eligibility.
And I'm going to spend all my time talking about what this campaign should be about.
This country faces a very significant and important choice in 2016. And when it's -- it needs to be made in a serious way. The consequences are extraordinary, if we get this election wrong.
And Republicans need to nominate someone who's going to unify the party, who's going to grow the party and who's going to win this election. And that's why I'm asking people to vote for me and to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and sign up and be a part of our effort.
STEPHANOPOULOS: One report in the "Huffington Post" this morning, that Mitt Romney may be set to endorse you, is that true?
Have you spoken to him?
Do you expect it?
RUBIO: I've spoken to Governor Romney. He is not set to endorse me and if he were, we wouldn’t be announcing it on the "Huffington Post." So but he's not scheduled to endorse me. I would love to have his endorsement but there's nothing forthcoming today and -- or in the days to come as far as I know.
STEPHANOPOULOS: In the meantime, his top strategist from last time around, Stuart Stevens, is in "The New York Times" this morning, taking a shot at your campaign. He's saying it's crazy that nobody else is trying to win except Trump. Rubio is not going after the person who's winning. I've never seen a campaign that seems as satisfied not to go after the leader.
Is it time to take on Mr. Trump directly?
RUBIO: Well, this is not an election like others up to this point. As I said, you know, there's 7-8 people dividing up 70 percent of the vote. And so we had a very unusual circumstance. I was being attacked from all sides and I mean, we had one super PAC that spent $40 million going after me. So, you can only take on so many people at one time.
And this is not about going after Donald Trump, it isn't. I know people want to obsess ab out that. This election is about who is best capable...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, he is the frontrunner right now.
RUBIO: ...of united the Republican Party. I know that I am.
Well, he's the frontrunner when you have seven people running and they're dividing up 70 percent of the vote. We need to remember here, over 70 percent of Republicans nationally have basically said we're not voting for Donald Trump. And as long as that 70 percent is being divided up by five people, of course he's the frontrunner. But once that number narrows, we'll have a different election. And we're getting closer to that point.
But we have to nominate someone that will bring us together as a party, that will grow it, that can take our message to new people and more importantly that can win, someone that's going to win in November. We cannot lose this election. And I give our party the chance to nominate someone as conservative as anyone in this race. But I am a conservative that can unite us, that can grow this party, and that can ultimately win in November.
And that's the argument we're going to be making.
And if there are differences between me and Donald Trump on policy, as I'm sure there are, we are going to be talking about those.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, what are the differences, plain and simple? Bottom line, is he qualified in your view, to be commander-in-chief? Can you support him if he is the nominee?
RUBIO: Well, I'm going to support the Republican nominee, because what the Democrats are offering is so horrific.
But I will say this, I don't believe that he has exhibited an understanding of foreign policy, which is the most important job of the commander-in-chief. And to say I'm just going to surround myself with really smart people, you know, that's not enough. Surrounding yourself with smart people alone is not enough. You, yourself, have to make judgments. You have to understand these things.
And here's the deal, on the day he becomes president, or I becomes president, or anyone becomes president, Vladimir Putin is not going to have a six month honeymoon period. The world is not going to wait until you catch up before they start testing you. You better understand these from day one.
And the other problem is, our next president has to be someone that can bring this country together, some level of unity. Not unanimity, we're not going to agree on every issue, but someone that will seek to unite Americans, not pit us against each other. And that's the kind of campaign I tried to run, that's the kind of president I'll be. I'll be a president for all Americans, even those who do not agree with me. And I think that's really important, given what we faced the last seven years and how divisive Barack Obama has been.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Three big contests so far. You've come in third, fifth, and now second in South Carolina. The big question for you is where do you win?
RUBIO: Well, when we get to these winner take all states, we have to start winning, because they award all their delegates to one person. And if you look at what we're doing now, we are going to be doing a national campaign. I mean, I am in Tennessee today, then I'm going to Arkansas, then we finish up in Nevada and tomorrow more of the same.
We're competing everywhere.
So, the way this process works for people that are watching is these states right now are awarding delegates proportionally. And -- but come March 15 if you win a state you get all of their delegates, that's when it's really going to start to matter. And we'll be in real good shape for that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Florida is must win?
RUBIO: Well, I think that's true for everyone in this race. And it's always been true. And we feel real good about Florida, especially now that the race has narrowed. And obviously I have a lot of admiration and respect for Governor Bush. We obviously shared a lot of supporters. Now that he's suspended his campaign, I think that really boosts us, not just in Florida, but in Ohio and in other key places around the country that are going award a tremendous number of delegates.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Rubio, thanks for your time this morning.
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