Trump hits Bush on Fla. casino flap: ‘If I wanted it, I would’ve gotten it’

by Vicki Needham - 09/16/15 8:59 PM ET

Republican front-runner Donald Trump said at the main-stage GOP debate Wednesday night that if he had ever wanted casinos in Florida he would have won that fight.

The remarks were in answer to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who said that Trump tried and failed to push casino gambling in the Sunshine State.

“I promise, it if I wanted it, I would’ve gotten it, believe me, I know my people,” Trump said, interrupting Bush during a debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

Bush said Trump, the billionaire businessman, tried to change his mind on allowing casinos to open in Florida.

But Bush said “he wouldn’t be bought by anybody.”

“When he asked Florida to have casino gambling we said no,” he said.

“Wrong,” Trump responded. “Don’t make things up, Jeb, don’t make things up.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign sent out an email pointing to several news stories spanning from the early 1990s into the 2000s demonstrating that it had been reported that Trump’s casinos had filed for bankruptcy multiple times.

Tags Donald Trump