Donald Trump says 'women are tremendous' after attack row
- Published
Donald Trump told NBC's Meet the Press "only a deviant" would think he had said anything wrong
Donald Trump has defended his relations with women, calling them "tremendous", but stopped short of apologising for attacking a Fox News journalist.
Mr Trump was criticised for seeming to suggest that Megyn Kelly was tough on him in a televised debate because she was menstruating.
Mr Trump told ABC, external on Sunday that only a "sick person" would interpret his remarks that way.
The tycoon is running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Mr Trump, who spoke to a number of news outlets on Sunday, he said he had an "amazing" relationship with women in business.
"They are phenomenal. And I have many executives that are women," he told ABC's This Week.
Mr Trump was dropped as speaker at a conservative forum after the remarks
"They are doing a phenomenal job. I pay them a tremendous amount of money.
"They make money for me. They make money for themselves. And in many cases, they truly are really talented and they can be killers."
Mr Trump was one of 10 Republican hopefuls taking part in a debate on Fox News, co-hosted by Ms Kelly.
She asked Mr Trump why voters should elect a man who has called women "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals", a question Mr Trump later said was "nasty".
On Friday, Mr Trump told CNN: "You could see there was blood coming out of her [Ms Kelly's] eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."
Many of his challengers called on him to apologise, and a major US conservative forum dropped him as a speaker in the wake of the remarks.
Donald Trump faced tough questioning from Megyn Kelly
In the ABC interview, Mr Trump repeated his assertions that he had been misunderstood, saying he had "nothing against" Ms Kelly, while declining to apologise.
He also attacked rival Jeb Bush, who himself is under fire after having to backtrack on comments that the US government was spending too much on women's health.
"What he said about women and women's health issues was ridiculous, and I'm the exact opposite," said Mr Trump.
The billionaire businessman is ahead of the 16 other Republican candidates in several recent polls despite a string of controversial remarks since launching his campaign.