Donald Trump: 'Political correctness' made NFL go easy on woman-punching player

Donald Trump asserted on Monday that NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell had let Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice off with a light punishment for punching his girlfriend because of a "politically correct country."

On Monday, TMZ released video showing Rice punching his girlfriend in the face, and knocking her unconscious in a casino elevator in Atlantic City earlier this year. Following the incident, the NFL investigated and suspended Rice for only two games.

"It's a tough video," Trump admitted to the hosts of Fox & Friends on Monday. "He really whacked her. And you see she was seriously unconscious."

"So, Roger is a terrific guy, I know him, and he admitted that he made a mistake. He went out there and he said it. It takes a big man to do that. And he said, in the future, things like this will be dealt with more harshly."

Instead of blaming a culture of violence against women or corporate greed as the cause of Rice's light punishment, Trump pointed to political correctness in the United States.

"We ought to do things much tougher in this country," he said. "You know, we've become a very politically correct country. And that's hurting us very badly in my opinion."

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Sept. 8, 2014.

(h/t: Twitter/@evanmcmurry)