Maureen Dowd Explains Defending Trump's 'Blood' Remark: 'I Believe Him'

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Trump found an unexpected defender on Sunday when Dowd, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, published an interview with him that touched, among other things, on his comments about women. Tucked near the bottom of the piece, Dowd briefly mentioned that she didn't think Trump was referring to Kelly's menstrual cycle with his "blood" remark.

"I don’t think he meant it that way," Dowd wrote in her column.

Dowd left it at that in the column. So on Monday, TPM asked her by email if she'd be willing to expand on her thought.

Here is her full emailed response:

I don't think that's where Trump was headed. I believe him when he says that he was going to say something about her nose or ears next, and then suddenly realized he should probably drop it. He used the same image about a man -- Chris Wallace -- in the same interview with Don Lemon, saying "there was blood pouring out of his eyes, too."

I told him during our interview that I did not think he should have been attacking Kelly with gory imagery for asking appropriately tough questions during a debate.

You can never get into someone's head and know for sure. It's just my impression from covering his various forays into politics.