Former president Donald Trump’s hour-long appearance at a CNN town hall ended with the indicted former president having repeatedly lied about the 2020 election, refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to successfully drive out Russian forces from its territory, and praising the rioters who attacked police officers and damaged the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.
Mr Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and whose supporters rioted Congress, was immediately pressed on the election he still claims to have won by moderator Kaitlan Collins during his first appearance on the network since 2016.
“Unless you are a very stupid person you see what happens…most people understand what happened, it was a rigged election and it was a shame we had to go through it,” he said.
The former president attempted to cite “True the Vote,” a conservative vote monitoring organisation, and claimed the group had “found millions of votes on government cameras where they were stuffing ballot boxes”.
“It is a sad thing for our country and for the world,” he added.
There is no evidence that the 2020 election was rigged in any way. Multiple recounts in numerous states have confirmed that Mr Biden won the election.
Yet Mr Trump steadfastly refused to acknowledge that fact despite multiple corrections from Collins, who covered his former administration for CNN and previously at the conservative Daily Caller website.
Mr Trump’s refusal to accept reality confirmed the fears of Democrats and many media figures who believed that CNN’s decision to platform the disgraced former president would allow him to spew untruths with abandon.
Michael Fanone, the ex-Washington DC police officer who was attacked during the January 6 riot and is now a CNN analyst, said in a Rolling Stone essay that he felt a “sucker punch” when he learned his current employer would be hosting the man whose supporters left him hospitalised on January 6.
He wrote that treating the ex-president “like a normal candidate who didn’t get people killed in the process of trying to end the democracy he’s attempting to once again run,” would only serve to normalize his actions today and for future candidates.
After the town hall, Mr Fanone told HuffPost: “It’s worse than I could have ever imagined. It’s an absolute disaster. There’s no way to fact-check this guy in real time. He’s a volcano of bulls***.”
One anonymous CNN on-air personality told The Daily Beast that Mr Trump’s performance validated the network’s critics.
“It is so bad. I was cautiously optimistic despite the criticism. It is awful. It’s a Trump infomercial. We’re going to get crushed,” the CNN employee reportedly said.
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added that CNN should be “ashamed”.
“This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen. Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence,” she wrote on Twitter.
On MSNBC, Ms Ocasio-Cortez added: “I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision. I don’t think I would be doing my job if I did not say that what we saw tonight was a series of extremely irresponsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk, that put that person at risk in front of a national audience and I could not have disagreed with it more. It was shameful.”
Mr Trump also refused to acknowledge that the riot in January 2021 was, in fact, a riot and an attempt by his supporters to prevent a peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration.
The ex-president, whose actions leading up to January 6 are the subject of two separate criminal investigations, spoke glowingly about the day when his supporters stormed the steps of American democracy and fought with police while screaming threats, insults, and slurs.
“It was a beautiful day,” he said, adding that his fans “were there with love in their hearts” when they left dozens of police officers with injuries and chanted death threats targeting lawmakers as they marched through the Capitol.
He also promised to pardon most of the rioters and refused to rule out issuing pardons for members of white nationalist and extremist groups who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy as a result of their participation in the Capitol attack.
The former president also refused to tell attendees at the town hall that he supports Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russian forces from its territory following the February 2022 invasion.
He was repeatedly asked by Collins if he backed Ukraine in its 15-month conflict with Vladimir Putin’s forces, and repeatedly dodged the question.
“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 and breaking down this country,” he told Collins when asked about his support for Ukraine.
She then asked him again if he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the conflict.
“I want everyone to stop dying. They are dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying,” he replied.
Mr Trump also repeated his bogus claim it would take him one day in the Oval Office to end the conflict.
You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya
Donald Trump attacks Kaitlan Collins“I’ll have that done in 24 hours, you need the power of the presidency to do it.” And he added: You know what, I will say this, I want Europe to put up more money. They should equalise, they have plenty of money.”
The ex-president’s performance at the CNN town hall was consistent with the belligerent way he conducted himself during his term in the White House under questioning from the press.
He repeatedly lied about the investigation into whether he unlawfully retained classified documents at his Florida home after the end of his term, telling Collins that he had the right to take such documents under the Presidential Records Act.
That law, which was signed by Jimmy Carter after the government had a dispute with Richard Nixon over that disgraced ex-president’s White House records, states that all presidential records are property of the United States — not any former president.
At one point, the cross-talk became so intense that Mr Trump attacked the CNN moderator.
“Do you mind?” Mr Trump said.
“I would like for you to answer the question. That’s why I asked it,” Ms Collins said.
“You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,” Mr Trump said, which elicited applause from the GOP-leaning audience.
Read MoreCNN Trump town hall — live: Network under fire for ‘shameful’ platforming of Trump disinformation
Trump refuses to say he wants Ukraine to win war with Russia
Biden takes aim at Trump town hall with searing one-line critique
Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live
Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term?
Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement
