Donald Trump stands by his comments on immigration, even if he's standing alone. In an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor on Tuesday, June 30, the Republican presidential hopeful not only doubled down on his controversial remarks but also revealed that he's suing Univision for a whopping $500 million after the network dropped the broadcast of the Miss USA pageant.
"The papers were just filed, so that will be interesting," the 69-year-old real-estate mogul told O'Reilly. "I have a signed contract for five years on the pageants. They have no right to terminate. They didn't even send me a letter, they terminated with a PR statement. They called me, also — one of the top people at Univision, so apologetic — 'Donald, we shouldn't be doing this, I know that. We'll pay you whatever money you need or whatever money you want.'"
Univision, for its part, hit back in a statement to Deadline shortly after the lawsuit was filed. "We just reviewed Mr. Trump's complaint for the first time, and it is both factually false and legally ridiculous," the network said Tuesday.
"We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump's ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants," the statement continued. "Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve."
Univision isn't the only network in Trump's crosshairs, though. Asked by O'Reilly about NBCUniversal's decision to cut ties on Monday, June 29, the business magnate said, "I don't even think they know themselves. I think they are weak, and I think they are afraid of the issue at the border."
He claimed, too, that they were "very angry" about his decision to run for president because of how it might affect The Apprentice.
"We had very good ratings last season, and they were not happy when I said, 'I'm running,'" he said. "You know they renewed The Apprentice. They went out and renewed it and what happened is, the other day I went up to No. 2 in the polls, so they see they're not going to be getting me. Then they have people complaining about my rhetoric."
He continued: "I've had the same rhetoric for years, you know that. I've been fighting border security and I've been fighting trade more than anyone else."
The rhetoric in question involves Trump's views on immigration, which he made clear during a campaign event earlier this month. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best…They're sending people that have lots of problems," he said at the time. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
The remarks incited a swift and strong storm of backlash, but Trump has no regrets. "It's totally accurate," he told O'Reilly of his speech. "The border is a disaster, Bill. People are pouring in, and I mean illegal people, illegal immigrants — 300 and some odd thousand are in your state jails right now, according to Homeland Security."
He went on to cite other statistics. "In terms of rape — this is an amazing statistic — 80 percent of Central American women and girls are raped crossing into the U.S.," he said, citing a report published by Fusion and The Huffington Post.
"I love Mexican people…I also respect Mexico, but Mexico is doing a tremendous number against the United States," he continued. "First of all, they are killing us at the border. Second of all, Bill, what they are doing to us in trade is unbelievable. They're taking our jobs, they're taking our manufacturing, and they're taking our money. I'm not angry at Mexico, because frankly, their representatives and leaders are smarter than ours. I'm angry at our country for having such bad negotiators and such bad leaders."
