Trump: ‘I’ll win the Latino vote’

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump says he can win the Hispanic vote in 2016, despite his recent controversial comments about Mexican immigrants.

“I’ll win the Latino vote because I’ll create jobs,” he told NBC’s Katy Tur in an interview Wednesday.

“I’ll create jobs, and the Latinos will have jobs they didn’t have,” he added. “I’ll do better on that vote than anybody. I will win that vote.”

{mosads}Trump sparked outrage after he sharply criticized Hispanic immigrants and Mexico during his presidential campaign launch event last month. He blamed America’s southern neighbor for a rise in violent crime.

“They’re sending people who have a lot of problems,” he said at New York City’s Trump Tower on June 16.

“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” he added. “And some, I assume, are good people.”

Those comments led to several prominent businesses cutting their ties with the billionaire real estate tycoon and reality TV star.

Trump on Wednesday downplayed the controversy.

“I have a great relationship with the Mexican people,” he said. “They love me. I love them.”

He also dismissed the business blowback from his statements.

“Yeah, I’m losing some contracts,” he said. “Who cares, people?

“Politically they’re weak, and they want to be politically correct,” he said of former business partners such as Macy’s, NASCAR, NBC and Univision.

“Compared to what I have, it doesn’t matter,” Trump added. “I would still do this.”

Trump also restated his long-held belief that President Obama was not born in the United States.

Tur challenged him over Obama’s origin by referencing the president’s publicly available long-form birth certificate.

“Fine, if you believe that,” Trump responded.

During the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Obama directed many of his jokes at Trump, hitting him back for questioning his birthplace.