Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is not backing down for his comments against Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Trump, who has been criticised for his sexists comments towards the female moderator of the first GOP debate, said he did not cross a line and that he has a great relationship with women.

The outspoken Republican candidate has been on the receiving end of intense backlash after he commented about Kelly during an interview with CNN on Friday (7 August). "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever," he said.

Trump became angry with Kelly after she questioned his comments about women, including calling women "fat pigs" and "slobs," Reuters reported.

Following the debate on 6 August, Trump took to Twitter to retweet comments against Kelly, adding, "I really enjoyed the debate tonight even though the @FoxNews trio, especially @megynkelly, was not very good or professional!"

On 9 August, Trump appeared on ABC's This Week and said he believed he did not cross the line regarding his comments about Kelly. "I have nothing against Megyn Kelly," he said. "She asked me a very, very nasty question."

He continued, "In the middle of her questioning, I brought up a statement Rosie O'Donnell, and the entire place—it was the biggest combination of laughter and applause...The place went crazy. it interrupted her question, it obviously shook her up a little bit. But she was angry."

Trump attempted to clarify his statements as well, saying, "I was referring to nose, ears. They're very common statements. What it means is that a person is angry, very angry. She was very angry."

The 69-year-old Republican added that he had "great relationships" with women and had hired many women for top-level positions. He added, "I cherish women."

The bombastic candidate also took time out to hit back against two of his fellow candidates, Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina, who both said he should apologise to Kelly. "What he said a couple days ago, if you want to really get down to the important stuff, because what he said about women and women's health issues was ridiculous," Trump said of Bush.

He then attacked Fiorina for her failed Senate attempt and tenure at Hewlett Packard. "Carly Fiorina, you know, she's having a log of fun, but she doesn't discuss the fact that her tenure at Hewlett Packard was a disaster," he said. "She then ran for the Senate, which nobody even talks about, and she lost in a landslide. And other than that, I wish her well. She's a very nice person."

Trump's comments against Kelly led him to be banned from a key gathering of conservatives in Atlanta. It also, apparently, cost him one of his longtime advisors, ABC News reported. While his campaign maintains that The Donald fired Roger Stone, Stone tweeted that he had resigned following Trump's comments about Kelly.

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