Did Donald Trump support the War in Iraq?

So, the verbatim claim from Donald Trump during the first presidential debate was:

“I did not support the war in Iraq.”

The fact check on that statement is: False.

We have found no evidence of his early opposition to the invasion. Trump expressed lukewarm support the first time he was asked about it a year after the Sept. 11 attacks. During the debate, he referenced that interview with Howard Stern, saying:

“When I did an interview with Howard Stern, very lightly, first time anyone's asked me that, I said, very lightly, I don't know, maybe, who knows? Essentially.”

Here’s the transcript of that Sept. 11, 2002 exchange:

Stern: “Are you for invading Iraq?” 
Trump: “Yeah, I guess so. You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly.”

He was not clearly against it until he was quoted in an August 2004 Esquire cover story. [1]This position was not a particularly unique one by mid 2004 -- 17 months after the invasion.

In light of Trump’s repeated false claim, Esquire has added an editor’s note to its August 2004 story, which reads:

“The Iraq War began in March 2003, more than a year before this story ran, thus nullifying Trump’s timeline.”

We have awarded this claim Four Pinocchios and compiled a timeline of all of Trump’s comments prior to the invasion in March 2003.

Trump said the following about war with Iraq through 2003.

"I'm no warmonger. But the fact is, if we decide a strike against Iraq is necessary, it is madness not to carry the mission to its conclusion. When we don't, we have the worst of all worlds: Iraq remains a threat, and now has more incentive than ever to attack us." (Trump's 2000 book, The America We Deserve)

"Yeah, I guess so; I wish the first time it was done correctly." (Interview with Howard Stern, 2002)

"Either you attack or you don't attack." (Interview with Neil Cavuto, 2003)

"Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps shouldn't be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know. He's under a lot of pressure. He's—I think he's doing a very good job." (Same interview)

"I think Wall Street's waiting to see what happens but even before the fact they're obviously taking it a little bit for granted and it looks like a tremendous success from a military standpoint and I think this is really nothing compared to what you're gonna see after the war is over." (Fox News, one day into the 2003 invasion)

Source: What did Donald Trump say on the Iraq war and when did he say it?

In 2004, after it was clear that the war and occupation were turning into a real disaster, he came out against it in an interview.Yes, he did. The problem with Trump is that he doesn’t really know about anything (besides bussines, a little). He was asked about the subject in a radio interview and he said that he supported the invasion. But I’m sure he did not really mean it, it was just a random answer about a “trending topic” at the time. He has thousands of that kind of lies in his life, just because he can’t stay quiet and he has to participate in EVERY SUBJECT EVER.

This one is pretty straightforward.

He did not ‘oppose the war.’ That’s for sure.

He did not ‘strongly support the war with an open statement.’

I think for this one, in order to support the war, he would either have to declare. “I support the war” in a press conference or “Vote for in Senate”.

He was a private citizen then, hence he could take the middle route of ‘somewhat’.

Verdict, “to the middle.”