Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes released a statement on Tuesday about Donald Trump's renewed war on host Megyn Kelly.

“Donald Trump's surprise and unprovoked attack on Megyn Kelly during her show last night is as unacceptable as it is disturbing. Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at FOX News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise.”

Trump didn’t take long to attack Kelly on her first day back from vacation Monday. The GOP presidential frontrunner’s war against Fox News’s No. 1 anchor began with a shot at Kelly for going on vacation following their clash at this month's debate.

“I could not be more proud of Megyn for her professionalism and class in the face of all of Mr. Trump’s verbal assaults. Her questioning of Mr. Trump at the debate was tough but fair, and I fully support her as she continues to ask the probing and challenging questions that all presidential candidates may find difficult to answer.

“Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should. We have never been deterred by politicians or anyone else attacking us for doing our job, much less allowed ourselves to be bullied by anyone and we’re certainly not going to start now. All of our journalists will continue to report in the fair and balanced way that has made FOX News Channel the number one news network in the industry.”

Trump also retweeted attacks on Kelly, including one tweet that called her a bimbo. On Tuesday morning Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade fired back, saying Trump is "out of control." At least 10 separate Fox News personalities publically rebuked Trump by noon Tuesday. Trump claimed two weeks ago that Ailes called him and said he would be covered "fairly" on the network. Trump threatened to blackball the network, which saw its ratings surge thanks to positive Trump coverage.

— Lloyd Grove