Donald Trump was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday, where he discussed his thoughts on the Kim Davis controversy. You can see the full interview and transcript below:
HOST: Let me ask you about that Kentucky county court clerk. You were asked about that at your appearance yesterday and said you hadn’t had time to look into it. Now, what do you think? She’s refusing to grant same-sex marriage licenses. She’s been ordered by a court now to do it. She’s been ordered to jail. Some of your opponents are standing with her and saying she has a right to do this. What do you think?
DONALD TRUMP: Well, look, the decision came down from the Supreme Court, Gene, so I’m a believer in both sides of the picture. I would say the simple answer is: let her clerks do it. Now from what I understand, she’s not letting her clerks do it either. The other simple answer is rather than going through this, because it’s really a very, very sticky situation, a terrible situation — 30 miles away, they have other places. They have many other places where you get licensed. And you have them actually quite nearby. That’s another alternative. I hate to see her being put in jail. I understand what they’re doing. It would be certainly nice if she didn’t do it but other people in her office do it, but from what I understand she won’t allow other people to issue a license.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: But Donald, bottom line is though, the Supreme Court makes a decision, that’s the law of the land, right?
TRUMP: You have to go with it. I mean, you have to go with it. The decision has been made and that is the law of the land.
[Crosstalk]TRUMP: And you know, she can take a pass and let someone else in the office do it in terms of religious, so it’s a very tough situation. But we are a nation, as I said yesterday, a nation of laws. And I was talking about borders and I was talking about other things, but you know, it applies to this also, and the Supreme Court has ruled. It would be nice to have other people in her office do what they have to do.
Thomas Valentine is a researcher for APIA and a junior at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
