Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump continued his defense of his latest controversy on the Sunday morning news shows, saying he "said nothing wrong whatsoever" when he criticized Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
Kelly grilled him on comments he has made on Twitter about women in Thursday's debate.
In his response to CNN on Friday, Trump said of Kelly, "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."
Critics said Trump was referring to hormones with that comment, though Trump himself said he was going to finish the sentence with "from her nose," but ended up moving on to other subjects.
Sunday on CNN's
"State of the Union," Trump told host Jake Tapper, the moderator of the next GOP debate, that the people criticizing him, including RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, are rooting for one of his competitors.
Erickson disinvited Trump from Saturday's Atlanta RedState event over the comments, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, currently polling second behind Trump, criticized him from the stage, saying Trump risks alienating women voters, who make up 53 percent of the electorate.
Trump said the Bush is a weak candidate, and suggested former Hewlett-Packard CEO and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are vocally criticizing him only because they are so low in the polls and need the attention.
He repeated his claim that only a "deviant" would think he was referring to Kelly menstruating with the blood comment.
"I was going to say, nose, and/or ears, because that's a very common statement. Blood flowing out of somebody's nose. It's a statement showing anger," Trump said. "She had great anger when she was questioning me."
Trump jumped on Bush's comments last week when he was taken as criticizing support for women's health when discussing defunding Planned Parenthood.
"Three days ago he was talking so negatively about women's health issues, and I thought it was disgraceful, frankly," Trump said. "And I think that will go down to haunt him, and maybe be the same as Romney's '47 percent,' which possibly cost him the election."
Bush was "very negative on women's health," Trump said, "And when you're negative on women's health, you can forget about it."
Trump said he is the "exact opposite" on the issue.
"I cherish women. I want to help women. I'm going to do things for women that no other candidate will be able to do," he said.
"I will be phenomenal to the women," Trump told
"Face the Nation," predicting he will ultimately win the female vote.
"I'm doing very well with the women voters," he told ABC's "This Week."
"I'm very much into the whole thing of helping people and helping women, women's health issues are such a big thing to me," he said, noting "I was one of the first people in the construction industry in New York to put women in charge of projects."
Trump said he would never be stupid enough to insult Kelly in such as manner as he has been accused.
"I went to the Wharton school of finance, I was an excellent student, I'm a smart person. I built a tremendous company. I had a show called 'The Apprentice' that NBC desperately wanted me to do another season," he said. " I do all this stuff. Do you think I make a stupid statement like that? Who would make a statement like that? Only a sick person would even think about it."
"Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd told Trump that even if he is taken at his word that he wasn't referring to hormones in the Kelly comment, "You're still making a demonic or animalistic reference with blood in your eyes. It's still a demeaning comment, even by your new definition."
Trump disagreed, saying Kelly was clearly angry that he interrupted her question and got a huge laugh and applause line when he said he had insulted only Rosie O'Donnell, a longtime Twitter foe.
"It really interrupted her when she did the question. And she was very angry," he said.
Todd told Trump he seemed to have "an allergy toward apologizing."
"No, I apologize when I'm wrong," Trump said, "but I haven't been wrong. I said nothing wrong. It's a very common statement," adding that he also said moderator Chris Wallace had blood coming from his eyes as well.
On
"This Week," host George Stephanopoulos confronted Trump over a passage from his 1997 book "The Art of the Comeback."
"Women have one of the great acts of all time. The smart ones act very feminine and needy but inside they are real killers," Trump wrote in the book.
"I say that with great respect," he told Stephanopoulos. "If you say that about a man it's great honor. It's also a great honor when you say it about a woman, and that's the way it was meant.
Stephanopoulos confronted Trump on how he has changed on issues, including abortion and single-payer health insurance. Trump said that he has evolved in his thinking, just as Ronald Reagan did.
He also was asked about his past contributions to Democrats.
"You have supported Democrats more recently, back in 2006, you and your son gave $77,000 to Democrats," Stephanopoulos said. "That was the election that brought Nancy Pelosi to power, Harry Reid to power. They have since passed President Obama's agenda, conservatives are against that. How can conservatives trust you?"
Trump said he was a businessman and supported everyone.
"When I needed something people were always there for me," he said. "If I supported somebody and three years later I needed something there was always there for me," adding that the lobbyists and donors are "what's wrong with the system," and that as a multibillionare he can't be bought by them.
Stephanopoulos then turned to a Twitter user's question, who said Trump had "essentially confessed to bribing politicians."
Trump said that because he has been a part of the system he understands it better and knows how to change it.
Trump made all his appearances by telephone, but did not appear on "Fox News Sunday," hosted by Chris Wallace, one of the debate moderators Trump has criticized.