New York: Donald Trumpprimetime appearance in a live cnn town hall On Wednesday the former president and 2024 presidential candidate was hit with a double whammy over his false claims as he faced interview questions from a mainstream outlet for the first time since sticking to the largely favorable conservative media.
Wednesday’s town hall marked Trump’s first appearance on CNN since 2016. He called the network “fake news” and never gave interviews to any of its journalists while he was president. Trump’s campaign said he appeared on the network to step outside the GOP comfort zone as he already begins to turn his attention to a possible 2024 general election rematch with Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump’s appearance on CNN comes at a time of jarring duality for the former president: the Republican is facing a crisis of legal problems, yet is in a stronger position than ever to be his party’s presidential nominee, and He has been attempting to reach mainstream media audiences in his embrace of extremists since leaving the White House.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s CNN town hall:
questions on sexual assault
Trump’s appearance came a day after a New York jury found him liable for sexually assaulting a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her for speaking out publicly about it.
Jury members honored the columnist E Jean Carroll $5 million in damages. The jury rejected her rape claim and instead found Trump guilty of the lesser charge of sexual assault. Trump denied this, saying he never encountered Carroll at the department store in 1996 and did not know her, and said he planned to appeal the decision.
After Trump skipped attending the trial and did not testify in his own defense during the proceedings, jurors were shown video from a dramatized deposition, making him face public questioning in the case for the first time on Wednesday.
Trump, when asked by CNN moderator Kaitlyn Collins about the verdict, said his polling numbers swelled and reiterated his statements that he did not know Carroll, even though at least one photo together has surfaced.
“I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. I didn’t know who he was.” She dismissed a question from Collins on whether it would affect her standing with women voters and, in response, she began reciting Carroll’s claims in a mocking voice, prompting laughter and applause from the live audience. but Trump persisted and called it “a fake story” and Carroll “a wacky job”.
Trump treatment of women
Collins asked Trump about his comments in the infamous “Access Hollywood” video, in which he bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without permission. The video was played at trial and Collins asked him on Wednesday if he stood by his comments.
Trump defended his comments, saying that he had said that women let him grab his genitals without permission because he was a star.
Trump said, ‘I can’t take it back because it’s true.
repeat elections are lies
Trump, with his first question to Collins about why he should be re-elected, began almost immediately by repeating his lies about the 2020 presidential election and his baseless claims of election fraud.
Striking a more muted tone than he usually used on stage in front of his cheering supporters, Trump called it a “rigged election” and a “shame” before Collins cut him off. and asked him to publicly acknowledge his loss to Biden.
Trump no, immediately returned to his claims. As Collins continued to try to fact-check Trump, he interrupted again, calling for honest elections, and then moved on to other topics such as immigration.
He returned to his claims at other points in the town hall, sprinkling lies in reply on unrelated topics and prompting Collins to interrupt and correct him.
January 6 Rebellion Defense
Trump, after avoiding tough questions for years, returned to mainstream networks for the first time since spreading lies about his 2020 election loss that sparked a deadly riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Collins asked Trump if he regretted his actions on January 6, and the former president began by praising the size of the crowd when he spoke that day before beginning the march on the Capitol, and said that attendees believed the election was “rigged”.
“They were proud there. They were there with love in their hearts. It was incredible and it was a beautiful day,” Trump said.
Collins pressed Trump on why he didn’t ask his supporters to leave the Capitol or send help to disperse the protesters, and he tried to pin the blame on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He brought out printed copies of his Twitter post that day, in which he finally, hours after the assault on the Capitol began, asked his supporters to leave the Capitol.
false abortion claim
Responding to a question about the US Supreme Court overturning abortion rights last year, Trump took credit for appointing the three justices who were involved in the majority decision, saying, “It was such a huge victory and people are now Starting to understand it.”
He repeatedly falsely claimed that abortion rights supporters wanted to “kill a child” in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after birth. This claim is based on a misleading interpretation of the Senate vote. Trump also dodged a question on whether he would sign a national abortion ban if re-elected. Trump instead spoke of the court’s decision as giving anti-abortion activists “the ability to negotiate”.
When asked if he would sign a federal abortion ban, he said, “What I would do is negotiate so that people are happy.” He repeatedly stated that he would “do what is right,” without specifying what that was.
Wednesday’s town hall marked Trump’s first appearance on CNN since 2016. He called the network “fake news” and never gave interviews to any of its journalists while he was president. Trump’s campaign said he appeared on the network to step outside the GOP comfort zone as he already begins to turn his attention to a possible 2024 general election rematch with Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump’s appearance on CNN comes at a time of jarring duality for the former president: the Republican is facing a crisis of legal problems, yet is in a stronger position than ever to be his party’s presidential nominee, and He has been attempting to reach mainstream media audiences in his embrace of extremists since leaving the White House.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s CNN town hall:
questions on sexual assault
Trump’s appearance came a day after a New York jury found him liable for sexually assaulting a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her for speaking out publicly about it.
Jury members honored the columnist E Jean Carroll $5 million in damages. The jury rejected her rape claim and instead found Trump guilty of the lesser charge of sexual assault. Trump denied this, saying he never encountered Carroll at the department store in 1996 and did not know her, and said he planned to appeal the decision.
After Trump skipped attending the trial and did not testify in his own defense during the proceedings, jurors were shown video from a dramatized deposition, making him face public questioning in the case for the first time on Wednesday.
Trump, when asked by CNN moderator Kaitlyn Collins about the verdict, said his polling numbers swelled and reiterated his statements that he did not know Carroll, even though at least one photo together has surfaced.
“I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. I didn’t know who he was.” She dismissed a question from Collins on whether it would affect her standing with women voters and, in response, she began reciting Carroll’s claims in a mocking voice, prompting laughter and applause from the live audience. but Trump persisted and called it “a fake story” and Carroll “a wacky job”.
Trump treatment of women
Collins asked Trump about his comments in the infamous “Access Hollywood” video, in which he bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without permission. The video was played at trial and Collins asked him on Wednesday if he stood by his comments.
Trump defended his comments, saying that he had said that women let him grab his genitals without permission because he was a star.
Trump said, ‘I can’t take it back because it’s true.
repeat elections are lies
Trump, with his first question to Collins about why he should be re-elected, began almost immediately by repeating his lies about the 2020 presidential election and his baseless claims of election fraud.
Striking a more muted tone than he usually used on stage in front of his cheering supporters, Trump called it a “rigged election” and a “shame” before Collins cut him off. and asked him to publicly acknowledge his loss to Biden.
Trump no, immediately returned to his claims. As Collins continued to try to fact-check Trump, he interrupted again, calling for honest elections, and then moved on to other topics such as immigration.
He returned to his claims at other points in the town hall, sprinkling lies in reply on unrelated topics and prompting Collins to interrupt and correct him.
January 6 Rebellion Defense
Trump, after avoiding tough questions for years, returned to mainstream networks for the first time since spreading lies about his 2020 election loss that sparked a deadly riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Collins asked Trump if he regretted his actions on January 6, and the former president began by praising the size of the crowd when he spoke that day before beginning the march on the Capitol, and said that attendees believed the election was “rigged”.
“They were proud there. They were there with love in their hearts. It was incredible and it was a beautiful day,” Trump said.
Collins pressed Trump on why he didn’t ask his supporters to leave the Capitol or send help to disperse the protesters, and he tried to pin the blame on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He brought out printed copies of his Twitter post that day, in which he finally, hours after the assault on the Capitol began, asked his supporters to leave the Capitol.
false abortion claim
Responding to a question about the US Supreme Court overturning abortion rights last year, Trump took credit for appointing the three justices who were involved in the majority decision, saying, “It was such a huge victory and people are now Starting to understand it.”
He repeatedly falsely claimed that abortion rights supporters wanted to “kill a child” in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after birth. This claim is based on a misleading interpretation of the Senate vote. Trump also dodged a question on whether he would sign a national abortion ban if re-elected. Trump instead spoke of the court’s decision as giving anti-abortion activists “the ability to negotiate”.
When asked if he would sign a federal abortion ban, he said, “What I would do is negotiate so that people are happy.” He repeatedly stated that he would “do what is right,” without specifying what that was.