Radio host Hugh Hewitt interviewed Donald Trump Thursday and asked the Republican frontrunner some details on foreign policy. After Trump confused some terminology, he accused Hewitt of asking “gotcha questions.”
Hewitt, who will also be moderating CNN’s September 16 presidential debate, first asked Trump if he was familiar with General Qasem Soleimani. When Trump asked for a little more information about Soleimani, Hewitt said, “He runs the Quds Forces,” the Iranian military unit that engages in terrorism and guerilla tactics outside of Iran. But Trump seemed to have confused that term with the Kurds, an ethnic group being targeted by ISIS in northern Iraq.
“The Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated,” Trump began.
“No, not the Kurds,” Hewitt cut in. “The Quds Forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Forces.”
In the interview, Trump also expressed his belief that it isn’t important at the moment that he know the difference between Hamas (the Palestinian political and paramilitary group) and Hezbollah (the Iran-backed political party in Lebanon). He also said asking about who the various leaders and players in the Middle East was asking about “history” because those leaders would likely not be in power by the time Trump became president.
Trump called Hewitt’s inquiries “gotcha questions,” although the level of detail Hewitt asked about was not different from that he’s asked of other Republican candidates. Listen to excerpts from the interview below:
Update: Hewitt later recorded an interview with Trump rival Carly Fiorina. The radio host claimed Fiorina was not aware of Trump’s interview and asked her the same questions he asked Trump. Fiorina, the former CEO of HP, responded somewhat better than Trump to the same questions.
Listen to the audio of Hewitt and Fiorina’s conversation below:
