Photo: John Nowak/CNN
Donald Trumpappeared in his first town hall of the2024 presidential campaign seasonon Wednesday evening, sitting for a controversial primetime town hall on CNN.
CNN has been heavily criticized both before and since airing the special, which saw Trump, 76, largely steamroll Collins, making an array of false claims that at times went unchecked (all while the audience laughed, even when the former presidentmade light of Carroll’s sexual assault claims).
There were other headline making moments, too, such as when the former president calledJan. 6, 2021— a day when a mob of his supporters overtook the United States Capitol that led to the deaths of five people, including a Capitol police officer — “beautiful.”
Here are the biggest moments from CNN’s Republican Presidential Town Hall with Trump.
Donald Trump at CNN’s Republican Presidential Town Hall on May 10, 2023.Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump supporters burst into laughter as he mocked sexual assault accuser E. Jean Carroll
Just one day after he was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll, Trump said on CNN that the allegations against him are little more than “election interference.”
“This woman — I don’t know her, I never met her, I have no idea who she is,” said Trump, who has been photographed with Carroll. “I had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband — nice guy, John Johnson, he was a newscaster, very nice man.”
Trump then went on to allege that Carroll had called her now ex-husband “an ape,” and that she had a cat named “vagina,” adding that the judge “wouldn’t allow” his legal team to mention those items during his defense.
The audience at the town hall laughed while Trump continued, saying again that he “did not know” Carroll, and suggesting that her claims that he forced her against a dressing room and assaulted her at Bergdorf Goodman 27 years ago were false.
John Nowak/CNN
Trump continued to falsely claim that the 2020 election was rigged
At various points during the town hall, Collins gave Trump the opportunity to backtrack on his repeated lie that the 2020 election, which he lost, was rigged against him. But Trump doubled down.
“When you look at that result and when you look at what happened in that election — unless you’re a very stupid person — you see what happened. Most people understand what happened,” Trump said. “That was a rigged election and it’s a shame that we had to through it. It’s very bad for our country.”
Collins then interjected, telling Trump, “It was not a rigged election. It was not a stolen election. You and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election. It’s been nearly two-and-a-half-years — can you publicly acknowledge that you did lose the 2020 election?”
Trump then continued claiming ballot boxes were “stuffed,” no evidence of which has ever been found despite the former president’s many attempts to do so.
Trump called Jan. 6 ‘a beautiful day’ and expressed an intent to pardon rioters
Asked if he had “any regrets” about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 — when he called on supporters to “march” to the U.S. Capitol and later released avideo addressingthose who had broken into the U.S. Capitol building with, “we love you, you’re very special” — Trump only expressed support for the rioters.
“Jan. 6 had to do with the fact that … you had hundreds of thousands of people [who] thought the election was rigged,” he responded. “They were there proud. They were there with love in their hearts. That was an unbelievable– and it was a beautiful day.”
Later, Trump said he would be “inclined” to pardon at least some of the hundreds of people who were arrested that day if he was elected president again, telling Collins: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one because a couple of them probably — they got out of control.”
Trump called Kaitlan Collins a ‘nasty person’ when she pressed on classified documents
Trump lobbed one of hisfavored insultsat Collins when she pressed him on his handling of classified documents, calling her a “nasty person.”
In the town hall, Collins asked why Trump “held on” to some classified documents after being alerted that the federal government was seeking them.
“Are you ready? Can I talk? Do you mind?” a visibly frustrated Trump asked.
“I would like for you to answer the question,” Collins said. “That’s why I asked it.”
“It’s very simple — and you are a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,” Trump told Collins, eliciting another round of laughter from the crowd.
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump refused to take Ukraine’s side in the ongoing Russian invasion
More than one year intoRussia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump stopped short of condemningVladimir Putin’s attacks on the country.
Asked if he would provide Ukraine with weapons and funding to defend itself against Russia — as the Biden administration has done — Trump said, “If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day — in 24 hours … I’ll meet with Putin, I’ll meet with [Ukrainian President] Zelenskyy, they both have weaknesses and they both have strengths, and within 24 hours, that war would be settled.”
Asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war, he said, “I don’t think in terms of winning and losing, I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”
Trump’s relationships with both Ukraine and Russia have been much-dissected since his 2016 election.
American intelligence officials have said that the Russian government and other Russian actors interfered in the 2016 presidential election in order to help Trump beatHillary Clinton, and Trump himself was investigated for his alleged ties to the country.
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With the indictment, Trump became the first sitting or former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
A Georgia special grand jury is also examining Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results concluded its work in January 2023, a Fulton County judge said in a court order issued at the time.
source: people.com
