Presumptive GOP presidential canditate Donald Trump has claimed he 'made a lot of money' out of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and 'screwed' the north African dictator when he allowed him to camp on his lawn.

The reality television star told CBS' Face the Nation (5 June) that he was paid a fortune during the bizarre incident in 2009, just two years before Gaddafi was overthrown by his own people in a Nato-backed revolution.

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"Don't forget, I'm the only one. I made a lot of money with Gaddafi, if you remember," Trump said. "He paid me a fortune. Never got to stay there and it became sort of a big joke."

The tycoon said he had been duped into the transaction with the dictator. He explained the deal had been organised through an intermediary because of Gaddafi's links to international terrorism.

"We have business partners and associates all over the world. The property was leased on a short-term basis to Middle Eastern partners who may or may not have a relationship to Mr Gaddafi," AP reported at the time.

However, tensions ran high in Bedford where the tent had been pitched. The white-topped tent was lined with a tapestry of camels and palm trees including leather couches and coffee tables.

Speaking during the same CBS interview, Trump also said he believed Gaddafi should have been taken out in a "surgical" assassination attempt. "I said surgical. You do a surgical shot and you take him out," Trump said on the programme.

Trump has sought to score points over his likely Democrat rival for the presidency Hillary Clinton, on the issue of US' 2011 intervention in Libya. Then Secretary of State, Clinton had been viewed as one of the principal architects of the Obama administration's initially successful military adventure in Libya.

Gaddafi was killed near his home town of Sirte in 2011 but the north African country has since descended into anarchy with Islamic State militants controlling vast swathes of the country.

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