Politics

Jeb Refuses To Back Trump Over Clinton In CNN Interview

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Blake Neff Reporter
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Jeb Bush refused to answer a question over whether he’d support Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton for the presidency in an appearance on CNN Thursday night, lending further support to claims he is backing out of a pledge to back the final GOP nominee.

“Would [Trump] make a better president than Hillary Clinton?” CNN host John Berman asked the Republican presidential candidate during an interview on Anderson Cooper 360. Instead of answering, Bush became evasive, attacking Clinton without actually comparing the two.

“I don’t think Hillary Clinton’s gonna be elected president of the United States,” Bush said. “She’s not trustworthy and her proposals aren’t much better.”

Berman hammered the question home, asking again whether Trump would be a better president than Clinton. But Bush didn’t take the bait.

“No, I’ve learned not to answer questions,” he said. “That’s one of the things you do now in political discourse. You answer what you want to say.”

The remarks come two days after a heated clash between Bush and Trump at Tuesday night’s Republican foreign policy debate, where Bush slammed Trump as a “chaos candidate,” and Trump mocked Bush’s toughness and weak performances in the polls. Bush’s non-answer also came the same day a senior aide admitted the candidate has looked into backing out of a pledge Bush made to back the eventual Republican nominee.

Trump has also pledged to back the GOP nominee and not make a third-party run for the presidency, but he may renege on the deal if other candidates do the same. If Trump chooses to run as a third-party candidate, it could doom the Republican candidate in 2016. Three-way polls have shown a third-party Trump run attracting significant support, which could lead to a Democratic win.

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