World News – Donald Trump has been told not to attend a conservative gathering in Atlanta on Saturday after the Republican presidential hopeful made comments about female Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly that many found shocking.
Trump said Kelly, who moderated Thursday’s GOP debate, had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
The remarks made during a phone interview with CNN prompted conservative commentator Erick Erickson to withdraw his invitation for Trump — who has been the front-runner in recent polls — to appear at his RedState Gathering.
“I just don’t want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal,” Erickson wrote on the RedState website Friday night. “It just was wrong.”
In response, Trump’s campaign issued the following statement: “This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader.”
Trump tweeted Saturday that when he said the blood was “coming out of wherever,” he was referring to Kelly’s nose.
He also tweeted that political correctness is “killing our country,” prompting Erickson to respond:
Friday saw an escalation in rhetoric after the blustery real estate mogul said he could not remember using words like “dog,” “fat” and “disgusting” to insult women he thought had slighted him, even though the statements litter his Twitter feed and other public comments he’s made for years.
The issue took center stage at the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign for president, when Kelly asked Trump about his use of such language and whether it reflected the “temperament of a man we should elect as president.”
The GOP hopeful dismissed Kelly’s question and then attacked her, retweeted a post calling her a “bimbo.” The post was later deleted, but on Friday evening Trump called Kelly a “lightweight.”
“She’s not very tough and not very sharp,” Trump said during the interview. “I don’t respect her as a journalist.”
by F. BRINLEY BRUTON and ASSOCIATED PRESS, NBC News
