Gregory Korte

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Republican Donald Trump was too "gentlemanly" during Monday night's debate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, and should have attacked former first lady Hillary Clinton on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

"I sure would have talked about what she did to Monica Lewinsky, what that woman standing there did to Monica Lewinsky, trying to paint her as an insane young woman when in fact, Monica Lewinsky was an intern," he said.

"The president of the United States, her husband, disgraced this country, what he did in the Oval Office. And she didn’t just stand by him. She attacked Monica Lewinsky," Giuliani continued. "And after being married to Bill Clinton for 20 years, if you didn’t know the moment Monica Lewinsky said that Bill Clinton violated her that she was telling the truth, then you’re too stupid to be president."

Giuliani, a Trump campaign surrogate, worked the "spin room" after the debate, defending Trump's performance at the debate and suggesting that he was the true feminist on stage. His comments to reporters were captured by Alexandra Svokos, a reporter for the millennial web site Elite Daily.

For his part, Trump said he held back from bringing up Lewinsky, but suggested that he might do so at the next debate. "I was very happy that I was able to hold back on the, you know, indiscretions with respect to Bill Clinton because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton and I just didn't want to say what I was going to say," Trump told CNN.

And what was he going to say? "Maybe I'll tell you at the next debate," Trump said.