Trump’s lies and insults take over CNN town hall

Washington: Former US president Donald Trump used a raucous town hall meeting in New Hampshire — broadcast live on CNN — to resume the lies and name-calling that marked his presidency, signalling to voters that criminal investigations, a jury holding him liable for sexual abuse and ongoing struggles with swing voters have not changed him a bit.

He pressed his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, praised the rioters who violently attacked the Capitol and suggested Congress allow the federal government to default on its debt, at the risk of a global economic crisis. The outburst came a day after a Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay $US5 million ($7.4 million) in damages to E. Jean Carroll, after he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming her.

Donald Trump doubles down on his claims against E. Jean Carroll.Credit: Screenshot

The audience laughed along when he called Carroll a “wack job”. “I have no idea who this woman is. This is a fake story.” He then called CNN’s moderator, Kaitlan Collins, “a nasty person”.

He lied continuously about the 2020 election, raising allegations of election fraud that have been repeatedly debunked. And he showed no contrition for behaviour around the 2020 election that has sparked criminal investigations in Washington and Georgia.

On US debt, he counselled Congress to allow the federal government to default in June if President Joe Biden does not come the Republicans’ way on deep spending cuts. A default could precipitate another global economic crisis. Trump shrugged: “Might as well do it now because we’re going to do it later.”

In one of the few overtures to swing voters, Trump repeatedly dodged questions on whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban or say at what stage of pregnancy abortion should be illegal. “What I will do is negotiate so that people are happy,” he said.

Donald Trump is interviewed by Kaitlan Collins on CNN during a New Hampshire town hall on May 11.Credit: Screenshot

And he hedged on the future of US military aid to Ukraine, saying that Europe needed to spend more and that his emphasis would be ending the war, not ensuring Ukraine’s victory.

CNN had been criticised by some Democrats for giving Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, such a platform. And from the outset, Trump showed how difficult a live television interview can be, although his bluster did not seem calibrated to appeal to swing voters.

Trump had not appeared on a major television channel outside the conservative media bubble since 2020, and his prevarications, half-truths, lies and name-calling showed he had not changed his politics before his run for another presidential term.

Even after a New Hampshire Republican voter asked if he would drop his polarising talk, he hedged, saying he would drop it if there was no election fraud. He then showed he was unrepentant about the deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, praising the rioters.

“They were proud. They were there with love in their heart,” he said, adding, “That was a beautiful day.”

He also insisted that he now has no more classified documents at his home Mar-a-Lago in Florida, an answer that could impact the ongoing federal investigation of his handling of highly classified records after his presidency.

And he proudly defended his administration’s policy of separating young children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. When the policy was first exposed, he had denied it was happening. On Thursday, he said such cruelty was necessary to deter families from illegally crossing the frontier.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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