Paul Singer

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump blasted the United Nations in a speech Monday before a powerful pro-Israel lobby group. But in 2005 he told Congress he was a "big fan" of the U.N.

Speaking at the American Israel Political Affairs Committee Monday, Trump blasted "the utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations.

"The United Nations is not a friend of democracy," Trump said. "It's not a friend to freedom. It's not a friend even to the United States of America, where as all know, it has its home. And it surely isn’t a friend to Israel."

But in 2005, Trump was invited to testify as a commercial development expert before a Senate subcommittee that was looking into the burgeoning costs of renovations of the U.N. headquarters in New York.

"I have to start by saying I'm a big fan, a very big fan, of the United Nations and all it stands for," Trump told the senators. "I can't speak as to what's been happening over the last number of years, because it certainly hasn't been good, but the concept of the United Nations and the fact that the United Nations is in New York is very important to me and very important to the world, as far as I am concerned. So I am a big fan.

Trump added that he built "the tallest apartment house in the world" across the street from the U.N. — called Trump World Tower — "and if the United Nations weren't there, perhaps I wouldn't have built it in that location."

Trump has repeatedly said things during his presidential campaign that contradict his prior views, but his campaign says simply that he has "evolved" on many issues, like other politicians have.

Here's the video of his 2005 testimony, via C-SPAN:

Trump on UN