Republican front-runner Donald Trump mistakenly cited “Two Corinthians” during address at Liberty University in a speech that’s now gone viral.
But Trump’s leveling the blame on someone else—Family Research Council President Tony Perkins—according to CNN.
“Tony Perkins wrote that out for me—he actually wrote out 2, he wrote out the number 2 Corinthians,” Trump said. “I took exactly what Tony said, and I said, ‘Well Tony has to know better than anybody.'”
In his radio show, Perkins offered some clarification: “OK, so I’m responsible for Two Corinthians? A couple things I need to assure you of, I know my books of the Bible and if you like, I’ll sing you the song.”
Perkins says he has made an effort to talk to all the candidates about FRC’s passions, especially about faith, traditional family and religious liberty. When Trump told Perkins he was visiting Liberty, Perkins offered some assistance of sorts.
“Since the Donald went out and made that statement, I wanted to provide some context to that. I did not write a sermon for Donald Trump to use at Liberty. I simply wrote him a couple talking points, including the theme verse, which was Second Corinthians.”
Trump refuses to call his citation a mistake, though.
“It’s a very small deal, but a lot of people in different sections of the world say two, and I’ve had many, many people say that to me. My mother, as you know, was from Scotland, and they say two,” Trump said.
Despite his gaffe, Trump still earned the approval of Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr.
“He cannot be bought, he’s not a puppet on a string like many other candidates … who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters,” Falwell said. “And that is a key reason why so many voters are attracted to him.”
