Updated 9.15 pm
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DONALD TRUMP HAS said that women should be punished for having an abortion.
In an interview with MSNBC, Trump was pushed hard about his views on abortion and his belief that it should be outlawed.
After some back and forth with interviewer Chris Matthews and a reluctance to answer, Trump said that,
The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
Trump would not give any details as to what that the punishment should entail or whether it should include jail.
Earlier in the course of the interview, Trump would not answer, saying only that:
Certain portions of the Republican Party and conservatives would say that yes, they should be punished.
“I would say that it’s a very serious problem and it’s a problem that we have to decide on,” he added.
After the interview, Trump released a statement in which he attempted to backtrack, saying that it should be up to individual states to decide.
In another earlier interview, Trump refused to back any nominee but himself.
Speaking to CNN, the party frontrunner was asked if he would support the Republican candidate for the White House, no matter who it ends up being.
“No, I don’t anymore,” Trump said.
No, we’ll see who it is.
Trump added: “I have been treated very unfairly. By basically the RNC (Republican National Committee), the Republican party, the establishment.
“I’ll see who it is. I’m not looking to hurt anybody. I love the Republican party.”
Trump said he would win the nomination in any case, and that he did not need an endorsement from his main rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Cruz has recently been ambiguous over whether he would endorse Trump if he himself does not win the party nomination.
Backbiting
Relations between the two hit a new low after a week of backbiting, including a Twitter exchange of photos of Trump’s wife Melania, a retired model, and a seemingly unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi.
The campaign for the primaries got off with a bang in August when Trump declined to say he would support whomever the party nominated and refused to rule out running as a third party candidate.
In September, however, Trump agreed to a sort of oath with the Republican Party. But in February he declared himself freed of it, saying the party had treated him poorly.
In a debate on 3 March, he changed his mind again and promised to honour the oath with the party.
With reporting by - © AFP 2016
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