The landmark agreement reached with Iran is a "ridiculous deal" that was "made by people who are incompetent," GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump declared on Wednesday.
"I think it's a disgrace," the real estate mogul told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "We were dealing from desperation; we look so desperate."
Trump said he does like the idea of making a deal with Iran over its nuclear capabilities, but "we should have doubled up on the sanctions and made a much better deal."
Even from the beginning, when Iran was holding three prisoners, the deal had its troubles, he said.
"We now have four prisoners," said Trump. "Amazingly, I don't think that [Secretary of State John] Kerry brought it up. It sounds like he never brought it up; he said one thing has nothing to do with the other."
In addition Trump said, the deal gives "billions and billions of dollars to them, releasing the money before you even do the deal."
He also said he is against the agreement's provision allowing a 24-day notice before inspectors show up to look over nuclear facilities.
And the agreement will probably happen, because President Barack Obama is in "pretty good shape" in terms of getting it approved in the Congress.
Trump said he believes he knows the deal "quite well" after seeing it "broken down in every newspaper you can imagine," but he assumes others will go into it in more detail.
"I have seen every newspaper article you can," he said. "I have seen the good points and the bad points. And the good points are not very strong, that I can tell you."
He also complained that sanctions against Iran weren't held together because of Obama's lack of leadership.
"If you had a president that was a leader, he would be able" to keep sanctions going, said Trump. "He can't even talk. When you look at where we are with countries, for example, Russia, Putin doesn't respect him. It's about leadership. You have to hold the sanctions together. And if they — if we had the right leadership, it would be something much different."
Russia will be a "big beneficiary" of the deal, he said, and "there are numerous places that are going to be big beneficiaries of this deal."
Meanwhile, Trump said he hates the thought of inheriting the agreement should he become president.
"We could have made a deal that would have been so much better," he said. "For everybody, including the other countries we're talking about. You know, Iran has the fourth-largest oil reserves in the world. They have so much and we're giving them so much. They're going to be so rich ... they're going to have everything they want, and ultimately, they're going to have the nukes all over the place."
Trump also talked about a
recent USA Today poll that put him in first place among GOP candidates, but the furthest behind among candidates when it comes to facing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Hillary was the worst secretary of state in the history of our country," Trump said. "I think that the person she doesn't want to run against is me. I say it. [Jeb] Bush doesn't say it. Nobody says it. I don't know if they have a deal, these politicians. They don't speak truly about others. But they have some kind of a deal. I would beat Hillary.
"I'll tell you what," he added, "a vote that I will win is the Hispanic vote."
Trump said that his expectations regarding the Hispanic vote may come as a surprise, given his statements on illegal immigrants, but "I have several Mexicans that work for me and the Hispanics love me ... I will win the Hispanic vote because I'll create jobs."
The billionaire also said he plans to release his financial disclosure forms Wednesday or Thursday, earlier than the 30-day period mark for releasing such documents.
Candidates must reveal information about their assets and debts within 30 days of announcing their candidacies to participate in the Aug. 6 debates, reports
The Washington Post. That means the deadlines are approaching for all candidates who declared their intentions before July 6, including Trump, and who hopes to be part of the first GOP debate in Cleveland.
Trump also said that he will meet with fellow GOP candidate
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Wednesday, but he doesn't know what they will discuss.
"He called me, and we are going to meet," he said. "I do have respect for him. I respect the fact that, along with a couple of others, he game out and he came out very strongly and agreed with what I said on illegal immigration."
Meanwhile, Trump said he is enjoying his first presidential campaign, but complained about some of the members of the media, who he called "dishonest" as "they don't want to print the truth. They don't want to say what you said. They don't want to say what you mean."
He accused them of taking what he says and putting it in very different words, as in his presidential announcement, where he was faulting the leaders of Mexico — not Mexicans themselves — for sending the country's worst to the United States.
"Mexico doesn't care from the standpoint that they don't want to house these people for a long period of time in their prisons,'" he said.
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