Republican candidates pile on Donald Trump for his 'offensive' attack against Megyn Kelly
Trump's most controversial comment about Kelly came Friday night when, during a CNN interview, he criticized how she moderated the GOP primary debate the day before.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever," Trump recalled of Kelly.
His remarks were interpreted by some conservatives as a sexist against the Fox host, who confronted him during the debate with his history of referring to some women as "fat pigs" and other charged terms.
Trump's campaign, playing defense, released a fiery statement on Saturday that said only a "deviant" would construe his comment about Kelly in lewd terms.
"Mr. Trump made Megyn Kelly look really bad - she was a mess with her anger and totally caught off guard. Mr. Trump said 'blood was coming out of her eyes and whatever' meaning nose, but wanted to move on to more important topics. Only a deviant would think anything else," his campaign said.
Trump's defense does not appear to have slowed the backlash, however. The influential conservative website RedState disinvited him from their weekend gathering and a number of GOP rivals weighed in critically.
Here's what some of the Republican White House hopefuls are saying.