Donald Trump told CNN on Tuesday he has no debate coach as the first GOP presidential debate approaches next week. Instead, he'll just be himself.
"I am what I am," Trump told CNN's Don Lemon in an interview set to air Tuesday night.
"Romney had a debate coach, and Obama had a debate coach," Trump said in a preview aired on CNN's
"The Situation Room." "I thought Obama was terrible, but Romney got worse and worse every time there was a debate. By the time they had third debate he was catastrophic."
"I have to be myself. If it is not good enough, that's OK," Trump said. "I'll go on to other things. I'll ride into the sunset and do some more buildings and create more jobs and that's OK. I'm doing this because I want to make America great again. That's why I'm doing it.
The other candidates pay pollsters "millions and millions of dollars," Trump said, but he prefers to just be himself. "You can't rely on pollsters every time there is a question."
If the pollsters were any good, he said, "why are they not running for office?"
Trump distanced himself from his lawyer Michael Cohen, who was reported to have threatened a lawsuit against a Daily Beast reporter if he ran a story about Trump's ex-wife, Ivana, using the term "rape" during divorce proceedings during the early 1990s. Ivana Trump has since said her ex-husband did not rape her.
"You have to understand, Michael was extremely angry because he knew it had never took place, he knew this website was a joke," Donald Trump told CNN. "And he was very angry, and maybe didn't even understand the question. But no, I don't. I disagreed with him. In fact, when I read it I disagreed. … Who knows what he said, because, frankly, I'm not sure that they reported it accurately anyway. … I disagree with it. When I first saw it, I said, wow, that's something I disagree with. He's speaking for himself. He's not speaking for me."
Appearing on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," Trump said the rape story is old, and he shouldn't even be asked about it since Ivana has disavowed it.
"In fact, she essentially she endorsed me," Trump said. "She said I'd make a fantastic … president. I was very honored that she did that."
He lamented the fact that the press could print untrue stories and people like himself who are public figures can't sue for libel.
The old story likely came up again because he is doing so well in the polls, Trump said. The latest
Monmouth University poll shows Trump with double the support of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
Trump has 24 percent to Bush's 12 percent in that poll released Tuesday.
"The people of New Hampshire, the people of Iowa, these are amazing people, because I'm doing great in Iowa, too," Trump said. "They're amazing people, great people. They want to see our country be a great again, and no politician's going to be able do that."
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