Trump: I Have ‘Tremendous Respect for Women,’ Will ‘Protect’ Them

Donald Trump says he has 'tremendous respect for women' at TODAY town hall (NBC News)

"I have tremendous respect for women, and I am going to protect women,'' Trump told Matt Lauer on TODAY Monday town hall event in New Hampshire. "(My daughter Ivanka) said, 'Dad, you respect and love women so much, could you talk about it more because people don't really understand how you feel.'"

"I think my relationship with women in terms of this whole situation has been really good. I actually score very well in most of the polls with women. It's hard to sort of prove it, but I do have my daughter and my wife saying, 'You have to talk more to women because your relationship with women and the respect you have with women has to be out there.' And I do have great respect for women."

Trump feels the track record of his businesses speaks for itself on women, saying that 35 years ago he had a woman as the "number one person building Trump Towers."