Trump finally admits he wanted to 'surgically' intervene in Libya

Donald Trump has long denied supporting intervention in Libya in 2011, claiming that if Moammar Gadhafi were still in power, the nation would be better off. But as BuzzFeed has reported on multiple occasions, Trump actually pushed for intervention in Libya back in 2011.

Trump finally admitted as much on Sunday, telling CBS's John Dickerson that, "I was for something, but I wasn't for what we have right now."

Trump qualified the terms of his intervention as being "surgical": "You do a surgical shot and you take [Gadhafi] out." Trump added that he was "never for strong intervention."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Still, some intervention is different than no intervention at all — which Trump swore was his stance back in a February Republican debate.

"[Ted Cruz] said I was in favor of Libya? I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so much better off if Gadhafi were in charge right now," Trump claimed at the time. Watch Sunday's interview below. Jeva Lange