Donald Trump declares Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones 'fair game' in fight against Clintons

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has ramped up his fight with the Clintons, telling NBC that Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and other women who accused former President Bill Clinton of affairs, are "fair game". Trump said that if Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton continues to "play the woman's card" it would be fair for him to bring up her husband's affairs.

"Well if you look at the different situations, of course you could name many of them, I could get you a list and I'll have it sent to your office in two seconds. But there certainly were a lot of abuse of women, you look at whether it's Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones, or any of them, and that certainly will be fair game," Trump said on The Today Show. "Certainly, if they play the woman's card with respect to me, that will be fair game."

The comments come just a day after Trump decided to go after his political rival's husband. Clinton's camp announced that her husband would be campaigning in Iowa in her behalf, which prompted Trump to accuse the former president of having a "terrible record of women abuse". He wrote on Twitter, "If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong!"

The fight between the two leading presidential candidates follows comments made by Trump, that called Clinton's bathroom break during the last Democratic debate "disgusting". In response, Clinton's supporters said that Trump was being sexist in his criticisms towards the former secretary of state.

As usual, Trump took to Twitter to claim he would "do far more for women than Hillary, and I will keep our country safe, something she will not be able to do-no strength/stamina!" The bombastic real estate mogul lambasted Clinton for getting her husband to campaign for her, saying, "HE'S DEMONSTRATED A PENCHANT FOR SEXISM, so inappropriate!"

Before his interview with The Today Show, Trump also said Bill Clinton's last attempt to campaign for his wife during her 2008 campaign ended badly. "Remember that Bill Clinton was brought in to help Hillary against Obama in 2008. He was terrible, failed badly, and was called a racist!"

Clinton has returned the criticisms, calling Trump out in the Des Moines Register for "the inflammatory rhetoric that he is using to divide people, and his going after groups of people with hateful, incendiary rhetoric." She added, "It's not the first time he's demonstrated a penchant for sexism. Again, I'm not sure anybody's surprised that he keeps pushing the envelope."

CNN noted that prior to launching his political campaign, Trump and the Clintons were on fairly friendly terms. In a 2008 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Trump vehemently defends Bill Clinton for his sex scandal, calling it "unimportant". He referenced those comments during his latest interview, saying they were his "obligation" as a "world-class businessman".

"I'm dubbed as a world-class businessman, which frankly that's what I am, and I got along with everybody. I got along with the Clintons, the Republicans, the Democrats, the liberals, the conservatives. That was my obligation, as a businessman," he said. "But I get along with along with the Clintons and I get along with everybody virtually, because that was when I needed approvals, when I needed something from Washington, I always got what I wanted."