Donald Trump: "Our country's so far behind"
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is looking for a second straight win in the South Carolina primary, while his rivals struggle to keep their campaigns alive.
On the eve of the voting, CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett talked with Trump and asked him the same question we asked Hillary Clinton on Thursday. Does he subscribe to the truth-telling standard Jimmy Carter set in the 1976 campaign, when he said, "I will never lie to you."
DONALD TRUMP: I would be very, very satisfied just to say, I don't lie. And you know, she sort of fudged it a little bit, which I didn't love, but I understood what she was saying. I would much rather say, 'I don't lie.' You know one of my problems is I'm straight, I tell it straight, I tell it like it is.
Garrett spoke with Trump before a rally in Myrtle Beach on Friday. The crowd of more than 5,000 began arriving at 6 a.m.
MAJOR GARRETT: Do you ever worry if you're elected president you will let them down?
TRUMP: I will be so disappointed in myself. There are so many things to do. Our country's so far behind, we owe $19 trillion, we're going to start chopping away at that. No, I don't want to let those people down.
GARRETT: Do you feel like that's a burden though, if you become president?
TRUMP: It's a burden, it makes it tougher, but I don't want to let these people down.
A day after calling Pope Francis disgraceful for suggesting Trump was not a Christian because he supported a wall on the Mexican border, Trump softened his tone.
TRUMP: I think it wasn't as severe as the media let it be known, because I saw his statement somewhat later. But this morning he was so nice and I really appreciate it.
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GARRETT: Is this an issue for the papacy to get involved in anyway, illegal immigration?
TRUMP: Look, Mexico is ripping off this country, they're ripping us off. Between the drug trade and all the illegal immigration, and you know they said to the pope something and he went out with it. But he didn't know the United States stance, he didn't know where we are, or our people. But he was terrific.
Garrett also asked about a September 2002 radio interview where Trump said he backed war with Iraq, despite saying the opposite on the campaign trail.
TRUMP: You could see that was a very weak [answer]. That was the first person to ask me about the war, because I'm a businessperson and you know they're not asking me about the war. Then shortly after that I started saying, I started studying and looking at it, I didn't like it because you're going to ruin the balance of the Middle East, which is what happened.