“I don’t even think about it," Donald Trump said. | AP Photo After the debate: Trump backs off Bush impeachment

Donald Trump on Sunday backed away from his past calls to impeach George W. Bush for invading Iraq after saying the night before that the former president lied to start the war.

“I don’t even think about it. It’s past time,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week.” “He was — he made a horrible mistake, we all make mistakes. His was a beauty. His was about as big a mistake as you can think of.”


Trump has used the unpopular Iraq War to criticize rival Jeb Bush. The issue sparked a number of heated exchanges between the two during the Republican debate Saturday night, at which Trump also blamed George W. Bush for the 9/11 attacks.

“I don’t know [Trump] well enough to not like him,” Jeb Bush said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “He’s not a serious person. His conversations in debates when he talks about foreign policy, it’s scary.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on ABC's “This Week” that Trump’s attacks on the former Republican president are proof he hails from the left.

"Those are the views of the fever swamps of the left. That's where Donald comes from," Cruz said.

Sen. Marco Rubio said on "This Week" that he had hoped Trump would back away from his comments that Bush lied to invade Iraq.

"I mean his unwillingness to walk away from that is disturbing," Rubio said.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Trump kept up his criticism of the Iraq War, saying the country has become “like the Harvard of terrorism” since. But on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he distanced himself further from his past impeachment calls.

“That's for other people to say,” Trump said. “I can say this, it may not have been impeachable because it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake. But it was a horrible mistake.”