Trump dropped from major event over blood comment

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been dropped from a major conservative conference because of "inappropriate" comments he made about a journalist.

Trump was due to give the keynote speech at the RedState gathering in Atlanta on Saturday.

However, following a TV debate, the billionaire New York developer and reality TV star said Fox News' Megyn Kelly, one of the moderators, had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever".

His comments came after Trump felt Kelly was unfair in asking him about his previous comments about women.

Erick Erickson, head of the RedState website, said he dropped Trump from the event because of the "indecent" comments.

"I just don’t want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal," said Mr Erickson.

Trump took to Twitter to renounce politically correct attitudes, while his campaign issued a statement saying he was referring to her nose and that "only a deviant would think anything else".

Erickson, who has invited Kelly to replace Trump at the conference, tweeted: "It is a shame that a candidate for President confuses political correctness and common decency."

During the debate, Kelly asked Trump about comments referring to women as "fat pigs" and slobs.

Trump told her: "Honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that."

The Trump campaign said in a statement: "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."