Trump on Debate: I Did Well; Holt Asked Some 'Hostile Questions'

Donald Trump Tuesday morning said he feels he did "really well" in Monday night's debate, but said he felt he had some "hostile questions," complained that he had experienced some issues with his microphone during the event at Hofstra University, and slammed a former Miss Universe pageant winner Hillary Clinton had referenced at the end of the debate.

"I thought it went really well," Trump told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "I had some hostile questions. That was okay. It was the debate of debates."

Trump said he would give NBC News' Lester Holt, the moderator of the first debate, "about a C or C-plus" rating, and he thinks the anchorman did a good job overall, but said Holt did not ask Clinton many questions that he thought should have been asked.

"Well, he didn't ask her about the emails at all," said Trump. "He didn't ask her about her scandals. He didn't ask her about the Benghazi deal that she destroyed. He didn't ask her about a lot of things she should have been asked about. There's no question about it. He didn't ask about her foundation."

But still, he didn't think Holt did a bad job, even if he did hit him hard on the last four questions of the debate.

"They were leaving all her little goodies out," said Trump. "I was asked about my tax returns, which I've told about 500 times. But I think I really did well, when we were asked normal questions. I think I did really well in answering those questions, but those [other] questions are not answerable in a positive light."

Further, Trump said he could have hit Clinton with the scandals concerning her husband's infidelities, after her attacks on him about his statements about women, but he didn't do so because daughter Chelsea was in the room.

"I think I did the right thing," said Trump. "It's not worth a point. I didn't feel comfortable doing it with Chelsea in the room. I think Chelsea is a fine young lady. I didn't like doing it with Chelsea in the room."

Trump said he also wishes he'd brought up the Benghazi, Libya attacks.

"Don't forget, you are asked a question as to progress or something, and it's hard to get off to Benghazi sometimes the way the questions were framed," said Trump. "You start off in a totally — the opposite of Benghazi, and so Benghazi can't get brought up, but it was a very interesting evening."

Further, he said he thought the first half of the evening went well, but "in the end, they start bringing up 45-year-old lawsuits," said Trump, and Holt "leaned over to that [left] lane, but I don't know, every poll — I won slate. I won Drudge [Report], I got almost 90 percent of the vote in the poll. I won Time magazine. I won CBS.

"I won every single poll other than CNN and not many people are watching CNN. I tell you what, that place is a disaster. The people they have on those shows, they are third rate talent as announcers on that show. The moderators. They are terrible."

Trump also spoke about his offer to release his tax returns when Clinton releases her 33,000 deleted emails. After the debate, Clinton Director of Communications Jennifer Palmieri commented that he wouldn't release the tax returns because "he didn't pay any . . . He's not given the American people the most basic information that we expect."

Trump called that "spin," and told Fox News Tuesday his decision had nothing to do with that.

"I just said, 'Hey, I will go against my lawyer's orders if you release your 33,000 deleted emails,' which I'm sure she could get," said Trump. "But you know, they would be very dangerous for her to get . . . unless Julian Assange releases them for her.

"He's supposedly out there. He is saying he's releasing something which will be interesting. Let's find out what he will release."

Trump said he also did not believe Clinton had gotten under his skin, except possibly in the final moments of the debate, when she brought up Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe pageant winner.

Machado said earlier this year that Trump called her "Miss Housekeeping" and "Miss Piggy" after she gained weight following her 1996 victory. On Tuesday, Trump attacked her on the Fox News program.

"She was the worst we ever had, the worst, the absolute worst," Trump said Tuesday of Machado. "She was impossible . . . she gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem. We had a real problem. Not only that, her attitude, and we had a real problem with her, so Hillary went back into the years and she found this girl.

"This was many years ago, and found the girl and talked about her like she was Mother Teresa and it wasn't quite that way, but that's okay. Hillary has to do what she has to do."

Going into the next debate, Trump said he may hit Clinton harder in certain ways.

"I really eased up because I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings," said Trump. "I had a problem with a microphone that didn't work. My microphone was terrible. I wonder if it was it set up that way on purpose.

"My microphone in the room, they couldn't hear me. It was going on and off. Which isn't exactly great. I wonder if it was set up that way, but it was terrible. When I tested, it was beautiful, like an hour before."

And, he insisted he doesn't believe in conspiracy theories, "but it was much lower than hers and it was crackling and she didn't have that problem. That to me was a bad problem, you have a bum mike, that's not exactly good."

He also blamed the microphone on reports that he'd sniffled throughout the debate.

"The mike was very bad, but maybe it was good enough to hear breathing, but there was no sniffles," Trump insisted.

He also slammed Clinton's stamina, saying his own is great because he has "good genes."

"If you don't have good genes, on the campaign trail, it's tough,' said Trump. "You have to have a lot of energy. I was talking to Hillary about her stamina, I don't believe she has stamina to be the president. She's home all the time, and I just don't think she has the stamina to be the president."

Meanwhile, Trump told the show that as for himself, "I don't sleep much, otherwise I wouldn't be doing your show. Don't forget I got in at 2:30 in the morning and I'm doing a show and I'm catching a plane at 8 a.m., and I'll take one of the world's fastest showers."

And overall, he doesn't think Clinton was one of his toughest debate opponents.

"I think Ted Cruz was tough," said Trump. "I think that Marco [Rubio] was actually very tough. He had a breakdown, a little breakdown once. But he was a good debater . . . [but] I think she will be tough."