Donald Trump: I opposed Iraq War, just call Sean Hannity!

Feel free to call Sean Hannity if you want to know what Donald Trump thought about invading Iraq before the war started.

That’s what the Republican candidate urged the press to do during the presidential debate Monday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. In framing a question about judgment, debate moderator Lester Holt noted that the record shows that Trump initially supported the Iraq War.

Trump frequently touts his purported opposition to the now-unpopular war as proof of his vision when it comes to foreign policy.

“I did not support the war in Iraq,” Trump said at the debate. “That is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her,” referring to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s claim that he opposed the war in Iraq from the outset has long been a staple of his campaign, but it’s fallen under heavy scrutiny lately. Before the war started, when asked by radio personality Howard Stern whether he supported the potential U.S. invasion, Trump replied, “Yeah, I guess so.” He’s frequently cited an interview in Esquire magazine to show that he opposed the war from the get-go — but that was published in August 2004, more than a year after the war began.

Trump insists that Hannity, a Fox News host and close ally of his campaign, can vouch for him.

“Everybody refuses to call Sean Hannity!” he said at the debate. “I had numerous conversations with Sean Hannity at Fox. And Sean Hannity said — and he called me the other day and I spoke to him about it — he said, ‘You were totally against the war,’ because he was for the war.”

Trump said he would regularly butt heads with Hannity, who supported former President George W. Bush’s decision to invade the country.

“And that was before the war started. Sean Hannity said very strongly to me and other people — he’s willing to say it, but nobody wants to call him. I was against the war. He said, ‘You used to have fights with me,’ because Sean was in favor of the war.”

Immediately after the debate, Trump gave an interview to Hannity on Fox News. Among other issues, they discussed Clinton’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State terror group and recalled having respectful arguments with the host over whether the U.S. should invade Iraq. In at least one past interview, Hannity had also backed up Trump’s claim of having opposed the war when it began.

“I used your name today because you and I used to argue over the war before the war,” Trump said.

“I thought you forgot,” Hannity said. “You called — do you know how many times we had conversations about that? And you told me I was wrong, in fairness for those people who are asking me in the media, you did tell me over and over again I was wrong. And we did have passion — but it was a respectful debate.”

“It was respectful, and I understood where you were coming from, but I was against the war. I thought it would destabilize the Middle East,” Trump said. “I didn’t know it would be managed so badly, in all fairness, and neither did you. But I really felt that it was something that had to be discussed because I was against the war in Iraq.”

Co-hosts of the “Keepin’ It 1600” political podcast — Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor — followed up on Trump’s plea for journalists to call Hannity. But he hung up on them.

(Cover tile photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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