Trump refuses to take responsibility for Jeb Bush’s exit

US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who has been credited to ruin the candidacy of onetime party favorite Jeb Bush, has refused to take responsibility for his opponent’s exit from the 2016 White House race.​

Bush, brother and son to two former US presidents, dropped out on Saturday night after a disappointing showing in South Carolina's Republican primary.

"The people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have spoken," a choked-up Bush said. "And I really respect their decision. So tonight, I am suspending my campaign."

Bush, the former Florida governor, finished in sixth place in the Iowa caucuses, and in fourth places in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

In an interview on CNN on Sunday, Trump, who won South Carolina's Republican primary election on Saturday, denied any role he might have played in taking Bush down. "I just don't know what did him in."

Trump had repeatedly attacked Bush throughout his campaign for the Republican nomination, calling him "weak," "low-energy" and "an embarrassment" to the Bush family.

Trump also targeted Jeb’s brother, George W. Bush, over Iraq war and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  

In a heated exchange between Jeb and Trump during the ninth Republican presidential debate on February 13, the New York billionaire blamed George W. Bush for the collapse of the World Trade Center and the death of 3,000 Americans.

“The World Trade Center came down during your brother’s reign, remember that,” Trump said.

On Sunday, however, Trump credited Bush with having fought hard in the campaign and called him a capable person.

“Jeb fought very hard,” Trump told CNN. “It wasn’t his time, that’s all – he’s a very capable person. It wasn’t his time.”

“You know, four years ago, I think he would have won,” he added. “Although, it would have been – with Mitt [Romney] and him – it would have been a good contest. But this was not really his time.”

In a recent interview with Press TV, American scholar Dr. Kevin Barrett said Jeb Bush was once the presumptive Republican Party nominee but Trump destroyed Bush’s candidacy.

“[Jeb] Bush hasn’t done himself any favors. He hasn’t given anybody a compelling reason to vote for him. But I think the real reason that Bush’s campaign has been destroyed is exactly the same reason that Rudy Giuliani’s campaign was destroyed back in 2008 – and that is that just as with Giuliani, Jeb Bush is a 9/11 criminal, who participated in the destruction of the World Trade Center and the murder of almost 3,000 Americans,” Dr. Barrett said.

He added that Trump ruined Jeb’s candidacy by repeatedly challenging him “on 9/11 by saying that 9/11 was the fault of George W. Bush, which is true in more ways than one.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk