Donald Trump said Marco Rubio's repeated debate line was "certainly different." Trump: Rubio 'was having a hard time'

Donald Trump on Monday added to the pile-on crushing Marco Rubio for his curious repetition during the debate.

"He was having a hard time. It was sort of interesting to watch, because he made the one statement, and I'm one with a good memory," the Republican candidate said in an interview with "CBS This Morning" with co-hosts Charlie Rose, Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King.


Trump noted that he heard Rubio say, "let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing" one time and then again " a few minutes later, "the same statement, almost identical."

"And I said all right, that's OK, we've repeated ourselves on occasion, Charlie, right? And, other than Norah and Gayle, but Charlie and I repeat ourselves constantly, right?" he joked with the co-hosts. "But, but, OK, so then I heard it again, and then I heard it a third time, a fourth time, and I think even a fifth time. And I said, wow, that's really strange."

Remarking that he "didn't know it was going to be blowing up ... a massive blowup," Trump continued, calling Rubio's repeated line "certainly different."

"I mean, it was a little — I'm standing there and I'm saying, did I hear that five times now? I mean, you know, what's going on here? And it was, you know, obviously a soundbite that he likes but you can use a soundbite once but you can't use it five times," he said. "It doesn't work."

Asked whether he himself has said things that he regrets later, Trump in a moment reflection remarked that he does but, "I also don't dwell in the past."

"I learn from the past and you know, we all make mistakes and certain things you would have done differently in life, I mean, all of us," he reflected. "Who wouldn’t have, if you had that option? But we never do have that option. So you have to learn from life, and if you do something, don’t do it again, that’s all."