I`m running for president because I want to change the direction of this country, and it will require me for the time being to miss some votes in the U.S.

Obviously I don't agree with everything he [Donald Trump] says. There's a lot that we have a difference of opinion on. But we can't ignore that he's touched on some issues that people are concerned about. If you look at the statements he made this week, obviously I think he made them partially to recapture the limelight after having lost it.

Presidents in both parties - from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan - have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity.

It's easy to stand up and say I will destroy ISIS; I will make the sands in the Middle East glow in the dark. Well, that's fine, but you have to have something to do that with.

Around the world, America's influence has declined while this president [Barack Obama] has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us.

Let me begin by saying that we have to understand who ISIS is. ISIS is a radical Sunni group. They cannot just be defeated through air strikes. Air strikes are a key component of defeating them, but they must be defeated on the ground by a ground force. And that ground force must be primarily made up of Sunni Arabs themselves, Sunni Arabs that reject them ideologically and confront them militarily.

I love the people of Venezuela. I want that country to have freedom. I want it to have human rights and to be banned by a dictator like Nicolas Maduro is, to me, a badge of honor.