Donald Trump on Carly Fiorina: 'Look at that face!'

Jessica Estepa,

September 10, 2015

A newly published Rolling Stone article shows GOP front-runner Donald Trump mocking fellow candidate Carly Fiorina's looks when he sees her on TV.

When the anchor throws to Carly Fiorina for her reaction to Trump's momentum, Trump's expression sours in schoolboy disgust as the camera bores in on Fiorina. 'Look at that face!' he cries. 'Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!'

The story, which went live Wednesday and is the cover story of Rolling Stone's next issue, goes on to note that the businessman "can't seem to quit while he's ahead," leading to the "ugly stews" he finds himself in with a number of people, from ex-wives to business partners. It also notes that his comments halt the laughter of his own staff.

More from Trump:

I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really folks, come on. Are we serious?

Shortly after the comments went public, Fiorina addressed them during an interview on The Kelly File. Host Megyn Kelly — another target of Trump's words — said Trump had "choice" remarks about Fiorina and asked the former Hewlett Packard CEO to respond.

Fiorina said:

Well, I think those comments speak for themselves and all the many, many thousands of voters that are helping me climb in the polls out there. Yes, they're very serious.

Kelly then pointed to the "face" remarks, asking Fiorina what she thought they meant. Fiorina replied:

I have no idea. Honestly, Megyn, I'm not going to spend a single cycle wondering what Donald Trump means. Maybe, just maybe, I'm getting under his skin a little bit because I am climbing in the polls.

Fiorina is indeed climbing; this week, she jumped to No. 3 in USA TODAY's GOP power rankings.

In a Thursday morning phone-in interview on Fox &

Friends, Trump defended his comments:

"Probably I did say something like that about Carly — I'm talking about persona, I'm not talking not about looks. … When I get criticized constantly about my hair, nobody does a story about 'Oh, isn't that terrible, they criticized Donald Trump's hair.' "