Trump Lashes Out At Critics, Makes Incendiary New Claims About Mexico

In a lengthy written statement Monday, Donald Trump doubled down on his recent remarks about Mexican immigrants being “rapists” and criminals, making the additional claim that “tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.” Accusing his critics of distorting his words, Trump’s statement did nothing to appease them after a days-long mass exodus of business partners and fellow Republicans trying to distance themselves from his comments.

In the three-page-long statement posted online, the billionaire reality TV star reprinted the text in question from his now-infamous presidential announcement speech, which he says “is deliberately distorted by the media.”

“What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.,” he said in the statement.

Trump went on to say “many fabulous people come in from Mexico,” and also broadened his call for immediately securing the border by saying Mexican leaders are much more “cunning” when it comes to trade deals with the U.S. and that infectious disease is “pouring across the border.”

He also floated the notion that Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster who dropped Trump’s Miss USA pageant after his comments, only “went ballistic” after his “significant rise in the polls.”

Read the full statement below: