Donald Trump: Suing Univision Is 'Part of My Campaign'

"I don't think of it as publicity. It's something I have to do," the controversial presidential candidate tells PEOPLE

Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty

As if running for president of the United States of America wasn’t enough, now Donald Trump has added a multimillion-dollar lawsuit to his 2015 to-do list.

Following the massive fallout from comments he made about Mexican immigrants during his candidacy announcement, Spanish-language network Univision quickly broke ties with Trump’s Miss Universe Organization – followed by NBC and Macy’s – leading the real estate tycoon to announce a $500 million lawsuit against Univision on Tuesday.

“We have a very strong lawsuit,” Trump tells PEOPLE. “We had a binding contract that they illegally broke.”

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Univision said, “We just reviewed Mr. Trump’s complaint for the first time, and it is both factually false and legally ridiculous. We will not only vigorously defend the case but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump’s ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made . Our decision to end our business with Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve.”

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Despite the attention this battle has garnered, Trump says he’s not off course. “This is part of the campaign,” says the former reality star, 69. “It shows that we don’t back down, it shows that I protect the border and it shows that we don’t want [undocumented immigrants] coming into the country.”

And to those who claim it’s all for show, Trump says, “I don’t think of it as publicity. I think of it as something I have to do.”