Trump on former Miss Universe’s weight-shaming allegations: ‘It’s a beauty contest’

Donald Trump continues to defend his treatment of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whose job he says he “saved” years ago by pressuring her to lose weight.

“They wanted to fire her,” the Republican nominee said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday. “The company itself wanted to fire her. I saved her job.”

Machado was crowned Miss Universe in 1996, the beauty pageant that Trump would buy later that same year. But after winning the contest, Machado gained weight, and in early 1997, Trump invited reporters to a New York City gym to watch her work out.

“This is somebody that likes to eat,” Trump said as she rode a stationary bike at the surreal press conference.

“I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight,” he told O’Reilly. “And I said, ‘Don’t do that. Let her try and lose the weight.’”

Related: Did Alicia Machado breach ‘weight clause’ as Trump campaign claims?

The real estate mogul pointed out that he had “done that with a number of the young ladies where I saved their job.”

Trump added: “It is a beauty contest. You know, I mean, say what you want, Bill. I mean, they know what they’re getting into. It’s a beauty contest.”

Trump’s past and recent comments about Machado are the latest flap involving the mogul on the campaign trail. Trump’s critics say it points to a clear pattern of misogynistic behavior.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended Trump’s treatment of Machado on Wednesday night.

“You’re not supposed to gain 60 pounds during the year that you’re Miss Universe,” Gingrich said at a Log Cabin Republicans dinner in Washington, D.C.

Machado, now a well-known actress in Latin America, told the New York Times in May that she suffered from eating disorders — anorexia and bulimia — for five years as a result of Trump’s alleged bullying. She also said she was caught off-guard by all the reporters Trump invited to watch her work out.

“I was about to cry in that moment with all the cameras there,” she said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to do this, Mr. Trump.’ He said, ‘I don’t care.’”

“Over the past 20 years,” Machado added, “I’ve gone to a lot of psychologists to combat this.”

During Monday’s presidential debate, Hillary Clinton invoked Machado’s name as a reminder of Trump’s history of crude commentary about women.

“One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest,” the Democratic nominee said. “He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy.’ Then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping,’ because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name: Her name is Alicia Machado.”

Trump seemed to be surprised by the charge.

“Where did you find this?” he asked. “Where did you find this?”

“She has become a U.S. citizen,” Clinton replied. “And you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”

Hours after the debate, the Clinton campaign released a video featuring Machado recounting her experience with Trump.

“He’d yell at me all the time,” she says. “He’d tell me, ‘You look fat’ or ‘You look ugly.’”

In an interview with “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning, Trump was unapologetic.

“She was impossible,” Trump said of Machado. “She was the winner, and you know she gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem.”

On Wednesday, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, took to Twitter to mock Trump’s own weight.

“The D women Senators have talked & we’re concerned about Donald’s weight,” she wrote. “Campaign stress? We think a public daily weigh-in is called for.”

The New Yorker magazine got on the Trump Troll Train too, publishing an illustrated cover that features the GOP hopeful in a swimsuit with a sash that reads, “Miss Congeniality.”