Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he almost fired his campaign chief over a skirmish with a female reporter, before seeing camera footage he claimed exonerated the aide.

Trump told Fox News Sunday morning that he was prepared to fire Corey Lewandowski for a grabbing female reporter, Michelle Fields, until he saw the footage.

"I was ready to fire Corey," Trump said.

After mocking Cruz for calling for Lewandowski's firing, Trump blasted former Michelle Fields, who quit Breitbart in the wake of the incident. Trump said that Fields lied in a police report.

Fields said she was nearly "thrown to the ground," and that there were "feet or fists" involved.

Trump claimed camera footage from the event proved him right .

"I'm a loyal guy, he said. "Corey is a great guy, a great man."

Trump also dismissed President Obama's joke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night in which Obama suggested Trump could close Guantanamo based on his history of running waterfront properties "into the ground." Obama was referring to the struggles of casino's Trump owned in Atlantic City.

Trump said he had made great deals in the New Jersey gambling location.