Donald Trump has come under some criticism for repeating a vulgar name a female audience member called rival GOP candidate Ted Cruz Monday night, but he insisted Tuesday that it was more like doing a "retweet" and it was all in fun.
"I have to tell you that the woman shouted it out," the New York businessman told
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "Okay, it was like a retweet. I would never say a word like that."
During a packed rally at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, Monday night, a woman yelled "he's a [expletive]" while Trump was discussing Cruz's hesitation during Saturday night's ABC News Republican debate, when he was asked for his views on waterboarding.
Trump repeated the woman's comment, a slang term for female genitalia, and then told the reporters he was"reprimanding" her for the benefit of reporters in attendance. "Ma'am, you're reprimanded. Can she stay? This is a serious reprimand . . . for the press," he said.
"We were all just having fun," Trump told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "It was a great moment, I got a standing ovation, the place went wild. Somebody said mixed cheers. Let me tell you the place went wild."
And, he insisted, "all I was doing was repeating it because people couldn't hear it, so I was doing everybody a favor. Does that make sense?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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