Donald Trump. AP Photo/Steve Helber Real-estate tycoon Donald Trump began his Monday-morning speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by touting his "record" crowd size.

Trump was speaking in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Liberty University's convocation. The Republican presidential front-runner noted that he also drew a big audience in 2012 when he addressed the Christian university.

"I will say this: It's an honor to be here, and especially on Martin Luther King Day," Trump said on Monday. "We broke the record. We had the record for about three or four years the last time."

Trump said he checked with Liberty University's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., and his wife, Becki, about the crowd size before he addressed the student body there.

"And the first thing I said to Jerry and Becki when I got here: 'Did we break the record?'" he recalled. "They said, 'Yes you did, by quite a bit.' So we'll dedicate that to Martin Luther King, a great man. And that's a little bit of an achievement, I will tell you."

Trump finished his speech by again dedicating his crowd size to King's memory.

"It's an honor to be here again. It's an honor, in terms of Martin Luther King, to have broken the record," he said. "We're dedicating the record to the late, great Martin Luther King, OK? But it's an honor."

The school's students are required to attend convocation events, including those featuring presidential candidates. According to Liberty University's website, attending convocation "is an agreed upon expectation that is clearly communicated to all applicants who desire to be a residential, undergraduate student at Liberty University."