wife, his daughter and sons looking on the entire time. and we talked about how he decided not to go to this fox news debate tonight. he was fielding phone calls all day from fox news, including roger ailes. he got a phone call apologizing. wouldn't say who apologized. he might have considered going to the debate but at this point it was too late and he already had this event scheduled for veterans in des moines and he was unable to go. here's the interview. mr. trump, i want to clear something up right off the bat because i've heard from people over at the debate site and i know a lot of them are expecting and hoping you'll make some sort of appearance tonight, even if it's in the spin room. do you think that's something you'll do? >> what's happened is when i said we won't do the debate because, as you know, i was treated not so nicely and at some point you have to put your foot down. what i said is we'll do something for our veterans. we're going to have a big

fund-raiser. it's already set up. i just saw on cnn we have thousands of people standing in line. it's a big event and it's taken a whole life of its own. i'll be going there. we're going to raise a lot of money. we've already raised a lot of money for the vets. >> put aside the fact you're upset with fox news, we are just a few days from the caucuses. there are a lot of iowa republicans who are undecided. do they deserve to hear you on the debate stage tonight answering tough questions? >> well, i think they will hear me because i'm going to be up there for an hour, hour and a half at a bigger event and we're going to have more people than they have. >> but getting questioned asked by a moderator. >> i've had six debates and according to every online poll, i've won every debate. they've asked me every question they can probably ask me. i guess we have five other debates scheduled after this, which is a lot of debates. the democrats are already finished wuths their debates. >> i think they are having more

now -- >> i understand they want to do some more. >> i hear you say there have been several debates. back in 2011 when republicans had gone through several debates you were hoping to do a debate and they started bailing on the idea. you told megyn kelly at the time they weren't showing courage or bravery. here you find yourself bailing on the idea of having another one. >> that was an interesting thing. newsmax called me out of the play saying we'd love to have you host a debate. i said i'll do that if you want me to do that. not something i've ever done before but think i could do it pretty well. i could do it okay. so i was willing to host the debate. but i think they were a little concerned with me as a moderator because they think i might have been a fairly tough moderator, which i would have been fair. >> you have an issue with one of the moderators of the debate. how is it any different? >> well, i'm not a person that respects megyn kelly very much. i think she's highly overrated.

other than that, i don't care. when fox called me because they very much want me here. they called me just before you walked on the plane. in all fair, very nicely. but they want me there nicely. i never once asked that she be removed. what i didn't like is their public relations statement where they were sort of taunting. i didn't think it was appropriate or nice. >> don't you sometimes put out press releases that are somewhat similar in tone to the one you object to. >> i can understand that. for me, i didn't think it was appropriate right before the debate. >> you do have this well-documented beef with megyn kelly. we've seen it go back and forth at this point. >> and i think she's fine. i think she's fine. it doesn't matter. she asked me a question which i thought was inappropriate. i think it was unfair. i gave her a good answer. i was my -- it was my rosie o'donnell answer. and to be honest, i won that debate according to every online poll and many pundits.

i regret also asking a question which was the raise your hand question, which was not exactly an easy thing to do. but i love the debates. i've probably given more interviews than anybody -- in fact, i'm credited with that, whether it's you or anybody else. i've given more interviews than anybody. i've been in six debates. i've done well in every debate. everybody said i won the last one. i enjoyed the process. i just didn't think this was a fair process. by the time they apologized i said, look. the problem is we now have a big event scheduled. >> on the phone they apologized? >> fox could not have been nicer. >> you got an apology? >> yes. >> who apologized? >> i don't want to say. >> when it comes to megyn kelly and you've had this beef, you raised the idea of the word bim l bo. >> you said the word and retweeted -- >> i said i don't want to use it. >> you've retweeted followers

who have used the word. why? >> they are followers. that's a retweet. that's different. look, i haven't had a very good relationship with her. i think she treats me very unfairly. she covers me all the time. for somebody that doesn't want to necessarily like donald trump, i'm always covered. i'm on her show all the time. i just don't think she treats me fairly. she's got to do what she's got to do. i don't think she treats me fairly. it's one of those things. >> ted cruz, not just ted cruz but those who support him, have been hammering you when it comes to your previous -- >> i'm hammering him on his views and where he was born. he's very weak on -- >> but you says to my colleague just recently, dana bash. you said i don't want to talk about that when asked about your previous support for late-term aborti abortion. >> i am pro-life. everybody knows i'm pro-life. he knows i'm pro-life. ted cruz also took a

commercial -- wait a minute. ted cruz took a commercial that i ripped down an old lady's house. he said ripped down. he said he destroyed -- because of eminent domain. which is very important. you wouldn't have roads or schools. the house was never ripped down. i never ripped down the house. she doesn't want to do it. ultimately, i said let's not do it. >> this is my question, though -- >> brianna, he did a big commercial and said i ripped down a person's house. >> what about not talking about this issue of late-term abortion. >> it has a lot to do with it because he's very dishonest. he said i ripped down a house of an elderly lady and i didn't rip it down. >> and you've said that, certainly, and that's in the interview. >> but he never apologized. >> was this you bailing on this debate so you didn't have to talk about things like this issue that's you clearly don't want to address. >> not at all. i'm doong interview with you and

with bill o'reilly. >> i'm answering every question. you're hear a long time. a lot longer than you're supposed to be. i'm doing interviews last night with bill o'reilly. he evened so, i'm so surprised you did the interview. i have nothing to hide. i've done more interviews than anybody. i've done the debates. i was insulted by fox and i said it's not time to do it. i think you'll find a lot of voters and caucusgoers will say he's the one person that will stand up for himself. when it comes to this country we have nobody that stands up. with the iran deal, instead of walking out of the room, we took everything they gave us and gave them $150 billion, and it's a disaster. we didn't get our prisoners back until everything was done. then they put guns to our sailors' heads. we need people that are going to stand up for themselves and the country. >> focussing on tonight. what do you say to that iowa

voter who may say, i like donald trump. now maybe they are backing away, they are turned off because they feel this is just a bunch of drama? >> brianna, i wanted to fight for myself, just like i'll fight for the country. i was treated for badly and unfairly by fox. fox was very nice -- >> fox aside. what about the voters? >> i was treated very unfairly by fox. since then, they've been excellent, very nice. but it's too late. we have an event and we're going to make a lot of money. over $5 million for the veterans. probably more than that. but i was treated very unfairly since then. fine. what i say is this. you have to stick up for yourself. you have fight for yourself and fight for your country. and a lot of people are saying, i really respect trump because he took on the establishment, which in this case is fox. he took on the establishment. and you know who else respects him? fox respects him. and they told me that. >> you've been going back and

forth, certainly there's been some criticism of you from ted cruz when it comes to immigration. you talked about sending undocumented immigrants back to their home countries and then allowing the, quote, good ones back in. ted cruz has called that touchback amnesty. >> i was just endorsed by sheriff joe of arizona. nobody tougher on immigration. he chose me because he understands me and my plan. ted was totally in favor of amnesty. ted didn't want to build a wall. now he's saying he wants to build a wall. ted was saying -- ted was very weak on illegal immigration. and just to go a step further. if i didn't bring up illegal immigration it never even would have been a subject. you wouldn't be asking me that question. you would have never been asking me that question. we are going to have borders. we are going to have a wall. mexico is going to pay for that wall. everyone sort of smiles when i say that. they think it's impossible. the reason they're going to pay is because they make a fortune with our country.

with trade and other things coming across that border. that very porous border. so we're going to have a border and a country again. >> i've heard -- you joked about, you can shoot people and wouldn't lose supporters. i've heard some say, that's kind of maybe taking supporters for granted. are you taking your supporters for granted. >> not at all. and that was done, obviously, in a very joking manner and a lot of people laughed. i was smiling. they were smiling. everybody was smiling. and the truth is your own report, your own polling said that, by far, trump has supporters that will never leave him. i was up to 68% or 69% and then got even into the 90%. we have great people. i have great supporters. just amazing people. i am in love with the people. i cherish these people. they are really great. and i'm very proud of that. to me, that makes me very proud that i have people that are so strong in favor of me. by the way, far stronger than

any other candidate by a long shot. >> before i do leave, i want to ask you more about this event tonight. who is going to be with you on stage if you're going to be talking specifically about the veterans groups you plan on donating money to? >> it's a tremendous evening. it's become a tremendous evening which is really one of the reasons i just can't go to the debate now. >> would you if you didn't have the event planned? >> i might have because fox was very nice to me. they couldn't have been nicer. i spoke to the top people. they couldn't have been nicer. i might have. this took on a life of its own. you covered it bettered than anybody. you've seen the thousands of people standing in line. we're very proud of the event. it was done over about a 24-hour period, which is pretty amazing. we are going to raise a lot of money for veterans today. the veterans have been treated horribly in our country. we're going to take care of our veterans. and one thing i'll say about the debates. with all of the time i've debated. i've gone through six debates

and done well. i don't think any question has been asked of me or anybody else of the veterans. they forget about the veterans. the veterans are like forgotten about. even in the debates, the veterans aren't discussed or talked about. and what i'm going to be doing is we're going to be talking about them and doing more than talking. we're going to be raising millions of dollars tonight for the veterans. >> mr. trump, thank you.