Donald Trump won’t apologize for confrontations with Univision’s Jorge Ramos and Fox’s Megyn Kelly

Republican front-runner Donald Trump was not ceding any ground Wednesday in his battles with Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly and his new media nemesis Jorge Ramos of Univision.

Trump did not apologize for sending out unprovoked, unflattering tweets about Kelly when she returned on the air Monday to “The Kelly File” after a vacation. The comments, including a retweet that described the anchor as a bimbo, drew tough rebuke from Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who said Trump owed Kelly an apology, but added that he did not expect her to get one.

Not only was Ailes correct about that, but Trump continued to criticize Kelly during his news conference in Dubuque, Iowa, on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning when talking to Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today.”

“I personally am not a fan,” he said when asked why he continued to take shots at the anchor. “I don’t think she does a good job. I don’t think she’s a very good professional. I think, frankly, the show’s better without her. But that’s up to [Fox News]. They can do whatever they want. I respect Roger Ailes. He can do whatever he wants. I don’t care. ”

Trump’s ongoing barbs prompted Lauer to ask whether he had a “schoolyard crush” on Kelly.

“When we’re in elementary school and junior high school, guys often say the meanest things about the girls they like the most,” Lauer said.

“Trust me, Matt, there is no crush,” said Trump, maintaining that Kelly’s questions at the Aug. 6 Republican primary debate were “inappropriate.”

Trump’s invectives toward Kelly started after the debate — watched by 24 million viewers — in which Kelly pressed Trump about his past disparaging remarks about women.

Other Fox News anchors have circled the wagons, expressing their support for Kelly in on-air statements or on their Twitter accounts. Kelly has refrained from commenting on any of Trump’s statements or tweets about her.

Meanwhile, Ramos was still fuming Wednesday over being ejected from Trump’s televised news conference in Dubuque before being allowed to return and question the candidate.

Ramos told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday that he’s never been escorted from a news conference before, even while reporting in Cuba and Venezuela, two nations not known for their media freedom.

“I was there to ask questions,” he said. “That’s our job as journalists.”

Ramos, considered the most powerful journalist in Spanish-language television and known for aggressively questioning candidates on U.S. immigration policy, was taken out of the room by security when he attempted to ask Trump about his plans to build a wall along the Mexican border and to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Trump yelled, “Go back to Univision” as Ramos was taken out, although he invited him back in and had a lengthy exchange with him later. (Trump is suing Univision over its decision to drop his beauty pageants in response to comments he made about Mexican immigrants.)

Trump defended his actions to Lauer, claiming that he was planning to call on Ramos eventually. He described Ramos as “ranting and raving like a mad man” and was “totally, absolutely out of line.”

Ramos acknowledged that he does take Trump’s comments about immigrants personally.

“The fact is that when Donald Trump is talking about immigrants, he’s talking about me,” he said, adding that Trump’s immigration proposals and inflammatory comments about Latinos will ultimately doom his candidacy.

“Without the Latino vote, he is not going to get to the White House,” Ramos said.

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio

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