(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Donald Trump.
Real-estate magnate Donald Trump admitted he didn't know the answers to what he called "gotcha" questions in a Thursday interview focused on foreign policy.
Among other things, the Republican presidential front-runner suggested it was not yet important for him to know the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas, the Islamic militant groups based in Lebanon and Palestine.
The interview went awry from the start. Hugh Hewitt, the high-profile conservative radio host who is moderating the next GOP debate, asked Trump about Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the country's elite Quds Forces who is responsible for overseeing Iran's network of proxy organizations.
"Are you familiar with General Soleimani?" Hewitt asked.
Trump said he was — but added that Hewitt should "go ahead, give me a little, go ahead, tell me."
Hewitt informed Trump that Soleimani runs the Quds Forces. ("Soleimani is to terrorism sort of what Trump is to real estate," Hewitt said.) But Trump started talking about how the US needed to treat the Kurdish forces in Iraq better, a reference to the US-led coalition's fight against the Islamic State.
After a quick back-and-forth, Trump explained that he had misheard Hewitt.
In a later question, the radio host listed a series of other notable Islamic militant-group leaders — Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Nusra Front's Abu Muhammad al-Julani, and the Islamic State's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — and asked Trump whether he was familiar with them.
Trump said he didn't know their names but dismissed the question as unimportant because new people would supposedly lead the groups by the time the next president was elected. He also vowed to hire an extremely talented general to lead the US armed forces.
"But as far as the individual players, of course I don't know them," Trump said. "I've never met them. I haven't been in a position to meet them. If they're still there — which is unlikely in many cases — but if they're still there, I will know them better than I know you."
(AP/Alex Gallardo)
Radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Hewitt noted that Nasrallah, the veteran Hezbollah leader, has actually been in power for a long time. In fact, according to the Israel Defense Forces, Nasrallah has been the group's leader since 1992.
The two then debated whether Hewitt's questions were fair inquiries or "gotcha" attempts to get the candidate to acknowledge that he didn't know obscure facts.
"Well, that is a 'gotcha' question, though," Trump said. "I mean, you know, when you're asking me about who's running this, this, this. ... I will be so good at the military, your head will spin.