CNN takes flak for chaotic Trump town hall

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed CNN over its decision to hold a town hall with former President Trump on Wednesday night.

“CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”

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The town hall concluded at about 9:10 p.m. with Collins thanking attendees and Trump waving to those in the crowd.

“We love new Hampshire,” Trump said as the audience cheered.

— Brett Samuels

Trump defended his call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election in which he asked the secretary of state to find enough votes to flip the state.

“I call it questioning the election. I thought it was a rigged election. I thought it had a lot of problems,” Trump said.

The phone call is part of an investigation by a Georgia prosecutor into attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

— Brett Samuels

Trump said he does not believe he showed any of the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago property.

He told Collins “not really” initially when she asked if he had shown the documents to anyone.

“Not that I can think of. Let me just tell you, I had the absolute right to do whatever I want with them,” he continued.

—Jared Gans

Trump claimed he had “every right” to take hundreds of classified documents from the White House upon leaving office.

“I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump said.

Collins noted the Presidential Records Act does not state that presidents can negotiate to take materials with them upon leaving office.

A special counsel is investigating Trump’s handling of classified materials after federal agents found more than 100 documents with secret and top secret markings at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

— Brett Samuels

Trump repeatedly refused to state whether he wants Ukraine to win in its war with Russia, saying “I want everyone to stop dying.”

Kaitlan Collins pressed Trump multiple times on whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, but he deflected to other topics.

“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,” he said.

“I want everyone to stop dying. They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians,” he said after she pressed him a second time.

—Jared Gans

Trump declined to say if he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.

“I think it’s something that should not be discussed now, it should be discussed later,” Trump said, suggesting that labeling Putin a war criminal would make him less likely to end his invasion of Ukraine.

The Biden administration in March announced it had determined that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

— Brett Samuels

President Biden does not appear to be watching the town hall on his way back to Washington this evening.

The White House press pool traveling with Biden reported that the televisions on the presidential plane were set to CNN on the flight to New York earlier today, but were tuned to MSNBC on the flight back as the town hall was beginning.

–Dominick Mastrangelo

As Trump repeated his claim that the 2020 election was rigged while speaking about immigration policy, Collins sought to step in.

“The election was not rigged, Mr. President. You can’t keep saying that all night long,” Collins said.

Trump has said numerous times throughout the evening that the 2020 election was rigged and that there were scores of fraudulent votes. Collins has jumped in on several of those occasions to fact-check Trump in real time.

— Brett Samuels

Trump said Thursday will be a “day of infamy” for the United States with the pending end of Title 42.

Trump initially instituted Title 42 as a pandemic-era measure to allow the country to more easily expel migrants and prevent them from seeking asylum on public health grounds.

“Tomorrow if going to be a day of infamy. You’re going to have tens of thousands of people pouring into our country,” he said.

The Biden administration has sent 1,500 troops to the southern border in anticipation of a surge of migrants with Title 42 ending.

—Jared Gans

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) bashed Trump in a statement over the opening segment of his town hall as it went to its first commercial break.

“For twenty minutes straight, Donald Trump repeatedly lied about the 2020 election, undermining our democracy, and calling the violent attack on our Capitol and attempt to overthrow the results of the election ‘a beautiful day.’ This would be disgusting if it wasn’t so dangerous,” DNC spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.

— Brett Samuels

Trump repeatedly dodged the question when Kaitlin Collins sought to pin him down on whether he would sign a federal abortion ban.

The former president would not say how many weeks into pregnancy he would support or if he would sign a ban if it came to his desk.

“President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what is fair for the country,” Trump said, speaking in the third-person.

“I’m looking at a solution that’s going to work,” Trump added when pressed again on his position.

— Brett Samuels

Trump said the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, was “a great victory.”

“Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with,” he said.

He further touted that Republican presidents have wanted to overturn Roe for half a century, but he was able to accomplish it with the justices he appointed to the court.

Trump’s comments came in response to a question from a woman who asked him how he would appeal to New Hampshire women who are “concerned” about the Dobbs ruling.

—Jared Gans

Trump told those in attendance that he believes in there being exceptions to abortion restrictions for cases of rape, incest and instances where the mother’s life is at risk.

“I think it’s frankly important to do that, but a lot of people are against that,” Trump said.

— Brett Samuels

Former President Trump addressed the infamous Access Hollywood tape released during the 2016 campaign in which he was heard bragging about groping women.

“I said women let you, I didn’t say grab. You know, you didn’t use that word,” Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at Wednesday’s town hall.

“They said will you take that back,” the former president said, referring to taped deposition. “I said look, for a million years this has been the way it’s been.”

“I can take it back if you’d like me to, but if you’re a famous person, if you’re a star…people that are rich, people that are powerful, they tend to do well in a lot of different ways, okay? And you would like me to take that back. I can’t take it back because it happens to be true. I said it’s been true for one million years, approximately one million years.”

— Julia Manchester

Trump told the crowd that the rash of mass shootings in the United States are a result of a mental health crisis and said his response if reelected would be to harden schools and arm teachers.

“We have a v big mental health problem in this country. And again it’s not the gun that pulls the trigger. It’s the person that pulls the trigger. And we have to protect our Second Amendment,” Trump said to applause.

— Brett Samuels

Question from the audience: “What to you think about America’s debt situation and how can we move forward?”

Trump’s response: “I say to the Republicans out there … if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default.”

Trump said he is “inclined” to pardon many of those convicted for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“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,” he said in response to a question from an audience member.

Trump has previously said that he would look “very seriously” at pardons for Jan. 6 defendants.

— Jared Gans

Trump and Collins sparred on a number of issues during the early stages of Wednesday’s town hall.

The network’s leading anchor peppered the former president with questions on topics ranging from his false assertions about the 2020 election, his comments about women and the mounting legal troubles he is facing.

Several of Trump’s rebuttals of Collins’ line of questions were met with uproarious laughter and applause from the crowd, which was billed before the event as being comprised of “Republicans and undecided voters in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.”

— Dominick Mastrangelo

Former President Trump said his former vice president, Mike Pence, is not owed an apology for what happened during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump said Pence is a “very nice man who made a mistake.” He said he told Pence that the attorneys who told him that he did not have the power to overturn the results of the election were wrong.

“They told him he couldn’t do it, and Mike said to me, ‘I can’t do it. The lawyers told me I can’t do it. I can’t do it.’ The lawyers were wrong,” Trump said.

— Jared Gans

In response to a question from the audience on whether Trump would pardon rioters charged with crimes for January 6 riots: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. … Many of them are just great people.”

Former President Trump took a swipe at President Biden in saying “I don’t need scripts” to answer questions.

Trump was referring to controversy that Biden faced in having some notes with him in advance of a press conference last month. The White House denied that Biden was given questions ahead of time.

— Jared Gans

Trump pulled out a document from his jacket pocket that had printed out copies of his tweets from Jan. 6 as he sought to defend his conduct that day.

He read one tweeted from 2:30 p.m. that day that said: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful.”

Trump was largely silent that day, only calling on his supporters to back down hours after they’d stormed the Capitol.

— Brett Samuels

Former President Trump said the United States needs to have “honest elections” during an exchange over Trump’s comments falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

“Look, we have to have honest elections in our country,” he said, which was followed by applause from the audience.

— Jared Gans

Trump praised CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, who was moderating Wednesday’s debate saying he did not believe she was stupid after she pressed him on his false assertions of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“I don’t think you have an agenda, unless you’ve been given an agenda,” the former president told the network’s star anchor.

–Dominick Mastrangelo

Trump defended those who went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol riots, saying those who attended his speech had “love in their heart.”

Trump said those who attended his remarks at the Ellipse on Jan. 6 were in town “because they thought the election was rigged.”

“They were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable and a beautiful day,” Trump said.

Rioters violently stormed the Capitol following Trump’s speech that day to try and stop the certification of the 2020 election.

— Brett Samuels

Question from the audience: “Will you suspend polarizing talk of election fraud during your run for president?”

Trump’s response: “Yeah, unless I see election fraud.”

Trump opened the town hall by repeating his false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged.”

“When you lok at that result and when you look at what happened during that election—and unless you’re a very stupid person you see what happened,” Trump said. “That was a rigged election.”

Pressed if he would admit that he lost the 2020 election, Trump instead repeated his claims that the election was fraudulent.

Trump and his team had numerous lawsuits alleging fraud in the 2020 election dismissed.

— Brett Samuels

Trump took the stage in Manchester at 8 p.m. to applause from the crowd of voters.

Moderator Kaitlan Collins noted that “no questions are off the table” and that CNN “agreed to no conditions.”

— Brett Samuels

Donald Trump’s town hall forum on CNN on Wednesday is the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign — and a gigantic test for the chosen moderator, Kaitlan Collins.

Both sides of the political divide expressed suspicion when the CNN forum at New Hampshire’s St. Anselm College was announced last week. Some Democrats question whether the former president should be given the airtime, while Republicans wonder if a network Trump has long disparaged can be fair.

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