Trump backs $10 federal minimum wage

Donald Trump says he backs raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour and that states should decide.

“Well, I would leave it and raise it somewhat,” the GOP presidential nominee told Bill O’Reilly on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” on Tuesday.

“You need to help people, and I know it’s not very Republican to say, but you need to help people,” he added.

{mosads}“I would say $10, but with the understanding that somebody like me is going to bring back jobs, I don’t want people to be in that $10 category for very long. But the thing is, Bill, let the states make the deal. They’re not doing that for the most part.”

Trump also accused former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders of distorting his position on the issue.

“When Bernie Sanders said that I want to go less than what the minimum wage — I mean honestly, Bill, these people are lying so much and every fact checker said Trump never said that,” he said. “I never did say it. I believe it should be raised.”

Sanders on Monday praised Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for supporting an increase to federal minimum wage, which currently sits at $7.25 an hour.

“Hillary Clinton understands that if somebody in this country works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty,” Sanders said at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

“[Trump] does not support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour — a starvation wage. While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks, huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the federal minimum wage below $7.25.”

Sanders supports a $15 federal minimum wage, a stance the Democratic Party adopted in its platform this month.