US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump congratulated one of his top supporters, former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, for his "amazing interview" on Fox News during which he accused host Megyn Kelly of being "fascinated with sex".
In one of the stranger TV interviews of this US presidential election, Mr Gingrich claimed in his exchange with Kelly on Tuesday night that she was focusing more on sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Trump than on controversies surrounding Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“You want to go back to the tapes of your show recently? You are fascinated with sex and you don’t care about public policy,” charged the one-time presidential candidate who was speaker in the 1990s.
A visibly startled Kelly shot back: “Listen, Mr Speaker, I’m not fascinated by sex,” pointing out that she had reported Mrs Clinton’s hacked emails on her show, and that the accusations of sexual impropriety against the candidate he was supporting was a concern to American women and men.
“But I am fascinated by the protection of women and understanding what we’re getting in the Oval Office,” she said.
Kelly soon concluded the interview, telling the former Republican leader: “You can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them.”
“You, too,” he replied.
New hotel
Mr Trump praised Mr Gingrich’s TV performance, telling a crowd at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for his new hotel near the
White House
in Washington DC: “Congratulations, Newt, on last night – that was an amazing interview. We don’t play games, Newt, right?”
As the US presidential campaign enters its final stretch with just 13 days until election day, a new Bloomberg poll shows a close race in Florida, the largest swing state and a must-win for the Republican, with Mr Trump leading Mrs Clinton by just two points.
The Republican's 45 per cent to 43 per cent advantage falls within the poll's three-point margin of error, and reflects a decline in support for Mrs Clinton who led by four points in a Quinnipiac University poll after the leaked tape surfaced showing Mr Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women.
Mr Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway defended her candidate against criticism for breaking away from the campaign trail to promote his new hotel when Mrs Clinton attended a concert by British singer Adele in Miami on Tuesday night, the eve of the candidate's 69th birthday.
Builds things
She described Mr Trump’s event as an opportunity to “show Americans the tangible accomplishments of Donald Trump” as “somebody who builds things”.
“Hillary Clinton has time to go to an Adele concert and everybody thinks that’s really cool,” she said. “Donald Trump stops off to unveil just an incredible, stunning piece of architecture and a new hotel – a first-class hotel – and everybody’s hair is on fire.”
Mr Trump has been doing plenty of fighting back of his own, or at least threatening to.
At a rally in Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday the Republican said he would "love" to fight Joe Biden after the vice-president said during a campaign event for Mrs Clinton in Ohio that he wished he could "take him behind the gym" over his comments about women.
“I’d love that,” said Mr Trump in response. “Mr Tough Guy. You know, he’s Mr Tough Guy. You know when he’s Mr Tough Guy? When he’s standing behind a microphone by himself.”
