Donald Trump blasted Fox moderator Megyn Kelly Friday night, suggesting her “ridiculous questions” at Thursday’s GOP debate were absurd because she was menstruating and also had an agenda — but then he clarified his remarks on Saturday after getting backlash on social media.
Mr. Trump called CNN to discuss the recap of the debate, featuring the top-10 2016 presidential candidates based on national polls, when he made the controversial remarks.
“I’m very disappointed in Fox News. … I think they probably had an agenda,” Mr. Trump said, according to video posted by Mediaite. “Certainly I don’t have a lot of respect for Megyn Kelly. She’s a lightweight. You know, she came out there reading her little script and trying to be tough and be sharp, and when you meet her, you realize she’s not very tough and she’s not very sharp.”
He continued to blast Ms. Kelly, calling her “highly overrated” and said she was out to get him, asking him all sorts of “ridiculous questions” during the debate.
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her … wherever,” Mr. Trump said, Mediaite reported.
Mr. Trump touted “hundreds of thousands” of people on Twitter who blasted Ms. Kelly during the debate.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to clarify his remarks, saying “wherever” meant Ms. Kelly’s nose.
“Re Megyn Kelly quote: ’you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. blood coming out of her wherever’ (NOSE). Just got on w/thought,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
He chided those who latched on to the remark for being too politically correct.
“So many ’politically correct’ fools in our country. We have to all get back to work and stop wasting time and energy on nonsense!” He tweeted.
Following his controversial remarks, RedState’s Erick Erickson dis-invited Mr. Trump from the conservative event on Saturday.
Mr. Trump made headlines on Friday for retweeting someone calling Ms. Kelly a “bimbo,” but when he was asked about it on CNN, he brushed off the tweet saying, “She’s able to take care of herself.”
Ms. Kelly called on Mr. Trump on Thursday to address instances when he had called women “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “snobs” and “disgusting animals.”
“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Mr. Trump joked.
Mr. Trump bragged to CNN on Friday that he did Fox News a favor by appearing on the debate and aired his grievances with other Fox pundits, including Charles Krauthammer.
“He’s totally overrated,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Krauthammer.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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