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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 More CNN 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

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A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin is moderating an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news. We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging. On Wednesday night the pair broadcast from a New Hampshire liberal arts college, where Mr Trump faced questions from Collins and an audience of 400 Republican and centrist voters during primetime on CNN. Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent. She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority. Born in Alabama to a family she has previously described as “apolitical”, Collins graduated from Alabama University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving into the field shortly afterwards. After spending two years working on the entertainment desk of The Daily Caller, the outlet founded by Tucker Carlson in 2010, Collins moved over to become the website’s White House correspondent, having also covered the 2016 election for the outlet. “The day [Mr Trump] was inaugurated was my first day covering the White House, and it was obviously an adventure that started that day,” she said in an interview with In Style magazine. “We had no idea what was ahead of us.” In 2017, she joined CNN’s politics team, becoming their White House correspondent – a role that saw her clash with then-president Trump and his press secretaries on multiple occasions. Indeed, one such occasion in 2018 saw her barred from a White House press event after asking supposedly “inappropriate” questions about topics including Russian president Vladimir Putin during Mr Trump’s meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. “They said, ‘You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,’” Collins told CNN at the time. “They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting.” Her line of questioning often didn’t hit well with the Trump White House, who unofficially declared war on CNN during Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and White House term, and she was once described by then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as an “activist”. Yet for all her “inappropriate” questions and CNN affiliation, Collins appears to have escaped the former president’s scathing online attacks that many of her colleagues have been subject to – suggesting she is far better placed than others to take point at the town hall. Indeed, she is thought to have been offered the role thanks in large part to her experience interviewing the former president. “He wants to intimidate and bully [the press] so you don’t ask him what he doesn’t want to get asked about. You have to remember to focus on the question and get an answer. Being banned by him really prepared me for that,” she told In Style regarding previous interviews with Mr Trump. More recently, in September 2022, Collins moved over to host CNN This Morning with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow as part of a major shake-up of the network’s schedule by incoming CEO Chris Licht. The transition was far from smooth. Lemon parted ways with CNN in April amid a furore over sexist comments on air, but not before he had reportedly screamed at Collins off-air, leaving her in tears. There may be more big changes ahead for Collins as just hours before the New Hampshire town hall, Dyland Byers of Puck News reported that Licht plans to offer Collins a new contract to serve as the host of the network’s 9pm primetime hour. The move could be announced as early as next week as CNN continues its pivot towards a more centrist posture. “Kaitlan’s offer is not contingent on her performance at tonight’s town hall, but, given the Trump X-factor, those 90 minutes have the potential to modify, accelerate, or stifle the arc of her career,” Byers said. “At the very least, her performance tonight will set the tone for a new Collins era at CNN, which, barring any f***-ups, will run at least through the 2024 presidential election.” There is always pressure on town hall moderators to keep things on course as there are many moving parts to such a format. In this case, the subject answering questions — Mr Trump — has just been found liable for sexual abuse and faces a multitude of other legal woes and investigations ranging from alleged financial irregularities and election interference to his role in the events surrounding the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. As a journalist on the rise, Collins has had to deal with controversy and challenging situations before during her time at CNN. However, Wednesday’s town hall — which generated a significant backlash over whether it’s appropriate to platform Mr Trump — was perhaps her biggest test to date and something of a potential crossroads for the network, her career, and the Oval Office prospects of Mr Trump. Regarding the pressure she was under ahead of the broadcast, one Washington insider said: “Kaitlan has big brass ones, she should do a good job.” On Wednesday night, Collins had an impossible task of trying to push back against a tsunami of falsehoods as Mr Trump steamrolled over her fact checks and objections, and refused to answer some questions directly as the audience cheered and laughed with him. In an especially combative moment regarding why he wouldn’t return classified material to the government, he called her a “nasty person”. She remained unphased and continued to press him on the matter and rounded out the town hall in a more interrogative way than she began, asking about Mr Trump’s interference in the 2020 election in Georgia, and whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election. There were earlier moments in which Twitter users howled at the lack of any pushback from Collins, including one completely false statement from Trump about abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after birth. Collins had strong moments, at one point forcefully challenging Mr Trump: “The election was not rigged, Mr President. You cannot keep saying that all night long.” Much of the criticism was less about Collins’s performance and more about using a format that makes it extremely difficult to fact-check in real-time, as well as having an overly friendly audience. The overall decision to offer Mr Trump airtime to spout disinformation has been the main point of anger. It remains to be seen how or whether Wednesday’s broadcast will impact Collins professionally. Reporters who know her from her time in Washington tweeted their support and lauded her journalistic abilities, and as Byers wrote, her prospects are not contingent on her performance. Most fury is directed at CNN which has been condemned as “shameful” for allowing the “disastrous” broadcast to go ahead and give Mr Trump a platform from which to spread falsehoods. Justin Baragona of The Daily Beast reported that a CNN on-air personality told him: “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.” Podcaster and author Wajahat Ali tweeted: “Kaitlan Collins was placed in an impossible situation by CNN leadership. She did well considering the circumstances. But set up to fail. Shameful stuff by Licht and Zaslav.” Earlier, in response to the “nasty person” barb from Mr Trump, Ali wrote: “Congrats, Chris Licht and CNN leadership. Bravo. What a way to treat your employees.” Matthew Gertz of Media Matters for America wrote: “The venue for CNN's Trump town hall will be ‘filled with about 400 voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents.’ I've never seen a network try this hard to get their own anchor booed live on their own airwaves.” Read More CNN Trump town hall — live: Kaitlan Collins prepares to face Trump as calls grow to boycott network over event Cheney launches anti-Trump ad ahead of ex-president’s CNN town hall Trump appearing at CNN town hall after sex assault verdict CNN sparks fury with Trump’s ‘volcano of bulls***’ town hall where he repeats Big Lie and gives Putin a pass Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking? 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Former President Donald Trump made his first live CNN appearance since 2016 on Wednesday as he sat down with the network’s Kaitlan Collins in the early GOP primary state of New Hampshire. What transpired over the nearly 90-minute broadcast was almost nostalgia-evoking as Collins was largely unable to make fact checks of the former president stick amid a seemingly unending cascade of lies put forward by an unrepentant Mr Trump. Let’s take a look at exactly why Wednesday’s return to mainstream cable news by the former president was so significant, and why CNN was facing ridicule on all sides before the evening ended: Trump steamrolls Collins Kaitlan Collins made a serious attempt to make sure that the truth got as much airtime as Donald Trump’s falsehoods during her moderation of the event on Wednesday, but sometimes a serious attempt still falls flat. That’s what happens when a journalist is set up to fail by their network; Collins, battling a raucous crowd that appeared to be almost exclusively in the former president’s corner, was often overshadowed by cheers and jeers as she attempted to shoehorn in last-second corrections after Mr Trump’s various spiels. She also found herself with no backup from the control room or CNN’s production team in general, who left her without any way to pull up examples of factual information, statements by Trump appointees, and other useful bits of media that would have greatly aided her fact-checking endeavors. As a result, the town hall at many times resembled the first Joe Biden-Donald Trump debate of the 2020 cycle, when moderators were sharply criticised for allowing Mr Trump to constantly talk over his opponent. By the end, the CNN host had been labeled a “nasty person” by Mr Trump on her own network while his supporters roared their approval. The production was roundly criticised by other journalists and by Democrats especially as the interview continued, with Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling the programme “irresponsible”. Trump steamrolls the truth, too There seemed to be no end to the whitewashing which Mr Trump engaged in Wednesday evening. He called the deadly January 6 attack a “beautiful day”, his supporters supposedly throwing themselves against police barricades and shields with “love” in their hearts. He repeated his long-debunked conspiracies about 2020, despite Collins’s reminder that he had failed to prove any of his claims in court (no mention by the CNN host that Mr Trump’s own lawyer had admitted to not having any evidence). He even lied about supposedly issuing an order to deploy thousands of troops on January 6, an order his own defence chief later testified never came. E Jean Carroll faces furious attacks and an accusation of racism from Trump The former president made no secret of his displeasure regarding a New York jury’s decision this week to find him liable for sexual abuse in the case brought by author E Jean Carroll. He repeatedly denounced her as someone he had supposedly never met, while accusing her of calling her own husband a word with racist connotations. Little of this was “fact-checked” by CNN; Collins instead asked him if he regretted not testifying in the trial himself. Mr Trump described Ms Carroll’s lawsuit as “election interference” — despite the election being more than a year away. The Access Hollywood tape returns In easily the most surreal moment of the night, Mr Trump gave perhaps his longest philosophical defence yet of his infamous “grab ‘em by the p****” comment. That remark, which surfaced in the fall of 2016 just weeks before voters elected him to the White House for four years, was made during a conversation on the set of an Access Hollywood taping. It would go on to haunt Mr Trump long afterwards. But on Wednesday, Mr Trump went into excruciating detail about that comment: He wasn’t talking about his own personal behaviour, he claimed, nor was he talking (supposedly) about non-consensual encounters. Instead, the former US president argued, he was merely making an observation about the power of money and how rich men use it to attract women, albeit in the crudest possible manner. Whether that explanation was believable is another story entirely, but it was nonetheless remarkable to hear out loud. Trump cheers default as debt ceiling deadline looms The ex-president gave a hefty piece of ammunition to his furthest-right allies in the US House of Representatives as he talked about the economy on Wednesday. Asked by Collins about the GOP’s debt ceiling negotiation strategy on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump responded that Republicans may need to force the US to default on its loan obligations in order to rein in spending. And he made the bizarre prediction that such a decision may not have real negative effects, calling the possible economic catastrophe nothing but “psychological” problems. "We have to start paying off debt ... I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default, and I don’t believe they’re going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don’t want to have that happen, but it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors,” he told CNN. Expect Republicans to hunker down and be more willing to risk passing the 1 June deadline after which the federal government may be unable to pay obligations to its creditors with the former president’s encouragement, knowing that their party enjoys only a slim majority in the House. Read More 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 Trump snaps and calls Kaitlan Collins ‘nasty’ in tense exchange at CNN town hall LOCALIZE IT: Migrants adapt to shift in border enforcement AOC blasts CNN’s Trump town hall as she brands it ‘shameful’