Trump: I’d Raise Minimum Wage To $10 Though ‘It’s Not Very Republican’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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In a Tuesday interview with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump said that he’d support raising the federal minimum wage to $10.

The Republican nominee doubled down on his previously stated support for raising the minimum wage, which came after he decried how high American wages were on the campaign trail, in response to comments Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made at the Democratic National Convention.

“He said that I wanted to go less than minimum wage. This is a new one,” Trump said. “I’m the one Republican that said in some cases we have to go more than minimum wage.”

“Give me a number,” O’Reilly pressed. “There has to be a federal minimum wage. What would you set the federal minimum wage at?”

“There doesn’t have to be,” Trump argued, before conceding: “Well, I would leave it and raise it somewhat. You need to help people, and I know it’s not very Republican to say.”

“Give me ten bucks?” O’Reilly asked.

“I would say ten,” Trump said. “But the thing is, Bill, let the states make the deal.”

Over the course of the rest of the interview, O’Reilly asked Trump about climate change — which the candidate admitted he “might have” called a hoax — and grilled Trump on his recent controversial comments regarding NATO.

“I like NATO,” Trump replied. “I like the concept of NATO, but it’s obsolete because we don’t cover terrorism.”

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