It sounds like he didn't know what "the mandate" was at the time Cooper asked him the question.
It's a good thing he has advisers on his team that can tell him what is conservative and what isn't so that he can issue "clarifications" after the fact.
Honestly it’s just a matter of people really needing (on all sides) to avoid the quick “gotcha”, and actually take a minute to just ASK.
These blogs could have just tried to call the Trump campaign and ask “hey, we have your statement here. What did you mean by...”.
But no, they all rush to say “TRUMP SUPPORTS OBAMA’S MANDATE”!
It’s so cheap and crass.