Donald Trump Denies Saying Heidi Cruz Tweet Was A Mistake

After igniting a firestorm by retweeting an unflattering photo of Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi, Donald Trump told the New York Times in April that it was a mistake.

On Tuesday night, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate adamantly denied calling it a mistake, telling Fox News’ Megyn Kelly , "I actually didn’t say it that way."

Kelly brought up the Heidi Cruz retweet while asking Trump whether he's made any mistakes over the course of the campaign. 

"I said I could have done without it," Trump said. "I'm not walking it back," Trump said, fending off Kelly’s suggestion that he was recanting his admission that it was a mistake.

"I wish I didn't do it," Trump said. "I guess you could say she’s fair game, because she is very much involved with the campaign."

The retweet in question was a meme mocking Heidi Cruz’s appearance, juxtaposed against a photo of Trump’s wife Melania.

"The thing that gets me in trouble is retweets. The retweet is really more of a killer. The tweets, I seem to do pretty well with," he said.

Trump’s claim was a sharp departure from what he said about the incident just weeks ago.

"Yeah, it was a mistake," Trump told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in April . "If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sent it."

His denial of remorse adds to a dizzying number of inconsistencies. He has made contradicting statements on his proposal to ban Muslims from the U.S. , his stance on a federal minimum wage , releasing his tax returns , and his position on abortion , among other things.

The highly anticipated Kelly-Trump interview comes after a months-long feud between the Fox News anchor and Trump. Trump has called Kelly “crazy ,” "overrated" and a "bimbo," and suggested that she asked him tough questions during a GOP debate because she was menstruating. Kelly never responded to his insults.

Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence  and is a serial liar , rampant xenophobe , racist , misogynist  and birther  who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.