Donald Trump is doubling down on his ill-worded criticism of Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, saying that he did “nothing wrong whatsoever” when he described her as having “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever” during the debate.
Trump, who made the comments during a post-debate interview with CNN, appeared back on the channel to defend the statements on State of the Union Sunday morning.
He told host Jake Tapper that he was not making a reference to menstruation with the latter part of his comment.
“Who would say that?” Trump said. “Do you think I’d make a statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about that.”
He said he meant to say “nose and/or ears,” but wanted to move the conversation along and start talking about jobs so he didn’t finish his thought.
“Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to. Because nobody would make that statement. You almost have to be sick to put that together,” he said again.
He tried to position himself as the champion of women, especially compared to his fellow Republican candidates.
He pointed to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s comment that the U.S. spent too much on women’s health care last week. Bush said he “misspoke,” and that he meant to say the government should not be funding Planned Parenthood.
Trump said Bush “came out horribly” and that the gaffe “will go down to haunt him and be the same as Romney’s ’47 percent.'”
“Jeb was very negative on women’s health,” Trump told Tapper. “I’m the exact opposite. I cherish women.”
Watch the clip at CNN.
