Bush denies calling Trump an ‘ass—-‘

Jeb Bush said Thursday night he did not call Donald Trump an “ass—-” in a conversation with a top donor.

“No, it’s not true,” the former Florida governor responded to Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who asked about the comments during the GOP presidential debate.

{mosads}An article published in Politico the morning of the debate quoted an anonymous GOP donor, who claimed that Bush had called his fellow presidential-primary contender a “buffoon,” “clown,” and “ass—-.”

Bush did concede that he believes the current Republican primary front-runner’s language is “divisive.”

“I want to win. I want one of these people here, or the ones at 5 o’clock to be the next president of the United States,” Bush said, referring to the GOP candidates who attended the earlier primary debate, outside the top 10 polling candidates. “We’re not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day: dividing the country, creating a grievance kind of environment.”

Trump thanked Bush, who was standing next to him at the debate, for denying the allegation.

“I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much,” Trump said. “I mean, he’s a true gentleman, he really is, and I do mean that.”