CNN Trump town hall — live: Trump refuses to admit 2020 loss and mocks E Jean Carroll to laughter from crowd

Donald Trump is appearing at a highly anticipated — and highly controversial — town hall event hosted by CNN tonight. The town hall kicked off in New Hampshire at 8pm and comes just one day after Mr Trump was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll in a New York civil trial. Mr Trump immediately railed against the jury’s decision — which ordered him to pay $5m in damages — calling it a “total disgrace”. Meanwhile, CNN has faced intense backlash and calls to boycott the network over its decision to host the former president who has repeatedly decried its reporting as “fake news”. While the town hall was condemned immediately after being announced last week, fury grew even stronger following Tuesday’s verdict as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her weight behind fresh calls to cancel it. Michael Fanone, one of the Capitol Police officers injured on January 6 has also criticised the network. Neither CNN nor Trump showed any intention to call it off. Mr Trump is expected to face tough questioning from both discussion moderator Kaitlan Collins and the audience of Republican voters. Read More Trump rants about E Jean Carroll’s cat after he is found liable of sexual abuse A sexual abuse ruling. 26 accusations. Yet Trump is still frontrunner to be the next President Trump news – live: E Jean Carroll praises sexual abuse trial verdict as CNN pressured to axe town hall