Trump, Bush go after each other

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush attacked each other over the U.S. relationship with Russia during Saturday’s GOP presidential debate, amid fierce audience booing — primarily directed at Trump. 

Bush criticized the real estate mogul for supporting a partnership with the Kremlin to take on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, calling it “ludicrous.”

{mosads}“Jeb is so wrong, just so you understand,” Trump responded to loud booing by the crowd.

“You know who that is, that’s Jeb’s special interests and lobbyists talking,” he said to the booing audience. 

“You gotta fight ISIS first,” Trump continued. “You can’t fight two wars at one time. That’s why we’ve been in the Middle East for 15 years and we haven’t won anything. We’ve spent $5 trillion in the Middle East because of thinking like that.”

Trump was repeatedly interrupted by loud booing, to which he responded by claiming, “I only tell the truth, lobbyists.”

The Republican front-runner has previously claimed that he would “get along” with Russian President Vladimir Putin if elected president. 

“I would get along with Putin,” he said in September during the second GOP debate, in response to a question about what to do about Moscow’s military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, a U.S. enemy.

“I would talk to him, I would get along with him. I believe — and I may be wrong, in which case I’d probably have to take a different path — but I would get along with a lot of the world leaders that this country is not getting along with,” he said.

The exchange with Bush on Saturday night quickly devolved into a shouting match, with moderator John Dickerson ultimately forcing the candidates to drop the topic. 

“Let’s leave it there so I can ask a question of [Sen. Ted Cruz], who’s also running for president,” Dickerson said. 

Trump leads polls in South Carolina, and is the front-runner for the nomination after winning the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.