Donald Trump said he won't give up Twitter while he's running for president because it is essentially like owning his own newspaper, he said at a town hall aired Sunday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
Trump noted that he has more than 7 million Twitter followers, and is "picking up hundreds of thousands in a short period of time," with a like number on Facebook.
"That's like owning the The New York Times without the losses," Trump said of a newspaper he has criticized as "
failing." "Why should I give it up?"
When Van Susteren asked if that would include after he was elected president, Trump conceded, "As president I would take it differently, yeah."
While he didn't vow to stop tweeting altogether, he said, "as president I think I would be different on that. I wouldn't be doing it much."
Trump has come under fire for his insults on Twitter, most recently r
etweeting an unflattering picture of Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi. He has since said he wouldn't do it again.
"But as president I probably would not be doing it [tweeting], maybe not be doing it all," Trump said. "But I have millions and millions of people, they rely on it, they love it. And I think it's one of the reasons I'm doing so well."
Van Susteren also asked about Trump's answer to a question last week that if abortion is made illegal, women should be punished. He later retracted that statement.
On Sunday, Trump seemed to indicate he meant women are actually punishing themselves.
"Women go through a lot. They go through a tremendous punishment of themselves," he said. "I wasn't sure people would understand it. So I clarified it. It was a clarification, and I think I was well-accepted."
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