Donald Trump Complimenting 'Good-Looking Children' Raises Eyebrows

Critics of Donald Trump were quick to blast the former president on social media after he referred to the children in the audience of a town hall in Iowa as "good-looking."

The comment came as Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared during a live town hall on Fox News the same time his GOP presidential rivals, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, faced off on the debate stage, also in Iowa.

During the town hall, moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the former president was discussing whether he would be committed to NATO if he's elected in November.

While responding the question, Trump said it would depend on whether the intergovernmental organization treats the United States "properly."

"Look, NATO has taken advantage of our country," Trump said. "The European countries took advantage as I want to use the word starting with an S but I don't want to do it because I see some young, very good-looking children in the audience that I assume they're watching or television, but they took advantage of us on trade, and then they took advantage of us on our military protection."

Newsweek reached out via email Wednesday night to Trump's representatives for comment.

Video of Trump's "good-looking children" remark was shared on X, formerly Twitter, where the former president's critics called him "creepy."

"'Very good looking children' huh?," cynicalzoomer posted on X.

One X user accused the former president of "scoping out the kids in Iowa."

Several social media users shared photos of Trump with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with several pointing out that the former president's name was recently mentioned in a recently released batch of court documents involving Epstein.

A document released on Monday contained emails that were sent by Sarah Ransome, who has accused Epstein of sexual assault, to columnist Maureen Callahan, regarding incidents that involved high-profile people, including Trump.

Trump has not been charged with any crimes relating to Epstein, who was convicted of sexual abuse and later found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

In the court document released on Monday, part of hundreds that have been made public in recent weeks, Ransome alleged the former president had a sexual encounters with "many girls."

"[A]nother friend...was one of the many girls that had sexual relations with Donald Trump...She confided in me about her casual 'friendship' with Donald. Mr. Trump definitely seemed to have a thing for her and she told me how he kept going on about how he liked her 'pert nipples,'" the document said. "I also know she had sexual relations with Trump at Jeffery's NY mansion on regular occasions as I once met Jen for coffee, just before she was going to meet Trump and Epstein together at his mansion."

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump told Newsweek on Monday, that the information released in the newly unsealed court document is meritless.

"These baseless accusations have been fully retracted because they are simply false and have no merit," Cheung said.