The 2016 Blast The latest POLITICO scoops and coverage of the 2016 elections. Email Sign Up

Tweets from https://twitter.com/politico/lists/team-politico



Donald Trump praised Planned Parenthood but criticized the group's abortion practices. | Getty Trump on Planned Parenthood: 'I am a truth teller'

Donald Trump dismissed the notion he is not a true conservative because he supports Planned Parenthood, insisting he is "just doing what's right."

"Look, Planned Parenthood has done very good work for many, many -- for millions of women," Trump said in a news conference Tuesday night. "And I’ll say it, and I know a lot of the so-called conservatives, they say that’s really ... cause I’m a conservative, but I’m a common-sense conservative."

Speaking from Palm Beach, Fla., the real-estate mogul reiterated he would not fund the organization "as long as you have the abortion going on," but noted the "millions of people -- and I’ve had thousands of letters from women -- that have been helped."

"And this wasn’t a set-up. This was women writing letters. But I’m going to be really good for women, I’m going to be good for women’s health issues, it’s very important to me. Very important to me," he said.

Trump then conceded that "maybe that’s not a perfect conservative view." But he insisted he's "more conservative than anybody on the military, on taking care of our vets, on the border, on the wall, on getting rid of Obamacare and coming up with something much, much better and certainly getting rid of Common Core.

"You can call it what you want, but I am a truth teller, and I will tell the truth," Trump said.

Planned Parenthood fired back at Trump in a statement, saying a "Trump presidency would be a disaster for women."

“Tonight, Donald Trump claimed he’d be great for women while in the same breath pledging to block them from accessing care at Planned Parenthood," said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "Tonight, Trump was introduced by Chris Christie, who decimated women’s health care across New Jersey. Trump would ban abortion, and eliminate women’s ability to have birth control covered by health insurance."