Donald Trump dominates US Republican debate

The controversial billionaire took centre stage at the Fox News debate which was the first television debate for candidates seeking nomination as the Republican contender for the 2016 US presidential election.

Mr Trump caused a stir after he said he would refuse to rule out running for the White House as an independent candidate, should he not win his party’s nomination.

The move by Mr Trump prompted boos from the crowd in Cleveland and an attack from one of his rival candidates, Rand Paul. If he did run as an independent it could split the vote and help the Democrats regain office.

“I don’t have time for total political correctness” – Donald Trump, Republican candidate

However, he also said: “I want to win as a Republican, I want to run as a Republican nominee.”

Mr Trump also caused controversy during the debate when he raised his hand after the moderators asked if any of the 10 Republican candidates would not pledge to support the Republican nominee in the November 2016 election.

He said: “I will not make this pledge at this time”.

Furious US Senator Paul said Mr Trump was keeping his options open to support the Democrats should he run independently.

“He’s already hedging his bets because he’s used to buying politicians of all stripes,” Mr Paul said.

The televised debate consisted of 10 candidates who were selected based on their recent national polls. In total, 16 men and one woman have entered the race to become the Republican candidate for the 2016 US presidential election.

The candidates were quizzed on topics including abortion, foreign policy and immigration reform in the two hour debate.

At one point, moderator Megyn Kelly challenged Mr Trump on his views about women and he stood by the offensive comments he has made in the past.

‘You’ve called women fat pigs’

“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” she said.

He answered by joking that he only said those comments about actress Rosie O’Donnell, adding that political correctness was one of the country’s biggest problems.

He said: “I don’t have time for total political correctness.”

The tycoon, who is taking the lead in the opinion polls, also defended his remarks that Mexican “rapists” and criminals were crossing illegally into the US and insisted he got his facts from border patrol officials.

“We need to build a wall and it has to be built quickly,” he said.

Controversial comments

Mr Trump has stolen the headlines in the last few weeks after making comments about 2008 Republican nominee John McCain’s war record and calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “drug dealers”.

The front-runners on last night’s debate were Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich.

The debate was the first chance for the Republican voters to make a side-by-side comparison of the top 10 presidential contenders for the party.

In his closing speech, Mr Trump said the United States was in “serious trouble” and “didn’t win anymore”, declaring himself the best candidate to “make our country great again”.

Seven candidates whose poll ratings did not qualify them for prime time debate last night, took part in a separate daytime debate.