‘I’m not like’ Donald Trump, Carlos Beruff says, in Spanish

Carlos Beruff has endorsed Donald Trump for president and channeled the celebrity businessman's outsider message in TV ads.

But don't suggest Beruff is the Trump of the U.S. Senate race in Florida -- at least not on Spanish-language television, to Hispanic voters who largely dislike Trump.

In an interview that aired Sunday on Univision's Miami affiliate, Beruff pushed back on a question from host Ambrosio Hernández asking him if he's like Trump -- a comparison Beruff has otherwise seemed to relish.

"I suppose it's because we're both business people," said Beruff, dismissing the suggestion though not very forcefully. "But I'm not like him. He's unique."

The Cuban American home builder from Manatee County was speaking to the Al Punto Florida show.

Beruff also defended his positions to limit immigration -- until the border is "closed," he said, "it's silly to talk" about anything else -- and to ban travel to the U.S. from Middle Easterners (except Israelis) -- "If the FBI" says are security concerns, he said, "who are we to say there's not?"

UPDATE: The Beruff campaign sends a clip of an earlier interview with the candidate, from May 1 on NBC 6's Impact, in which Beruff says in English that "There is only one Donald Trump, as we know." He adds: "But there are aspects of where he's coming from that I understand, which is business people that have built and actually created jobs in this country."

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 6:46 AM with the headline "‘I’m not like’ Donald Trump, Carlos Beruff says, in Spanish."