In his first appearance on CNN in years, former President Donald Trump worked the mostly friendly New Hampshire audience and was at times combative with moderator Kaitlin Collins, at one point calling her “a nasty person” to applause.
“As sparks flew during the CNN town hall on Wednesday, voters got a chance to witness former President Donald Trump dive back into his signature campaign mode, showing a scrappy fighter refusing to back down from a challenge,” The Daily Wire reported.
Collins “repeatedly pushed back on what Trump said — coming back at him with retorts such as ‘that’s not accurate’ — at junctures all throughout the event at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, an early-voting state,” the report continued. “Tensions reached a peak when the journalist pressed Trump on the controversy over his handling of classified documents, rejecting his comparison to President Joe Biden’s own issues with squirreling away sensitive records upon leaving office.”
“You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,” Trump quipped at one point.
Trump to Kaitlin Collins: "You're a nasty person, I tell ya!" pic.twitter.com/CYYjiq8emO
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 11, 2023
The outlet reported further:
After years of calling CNN “fake news” in the face of a torrent of unflattering news coverage, Trump made a return to the network for the first time since the 2016 campaign with the town hall. He said CNN offered “me a deal I couldn’t refuse” in a post to Truth Social before the big event.
Though Trump was introduced Wednesday evening as the Republican 2024 primary frontrunner, the questions he faced for the first 25 minutes looked backward, probing Trump on his “rigged” 2020 election claims, various controversies and legal challenges he faces, and writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing Trump of rape. Trump stood his ground on all fronts.
Regarding the 2020 election, Trump expressed his perspective that his defeat to President Joe Biden was influenced by various factors that aligned against him. He attributed his loss not only to concerns about voter fraud but also to the impact of social media and the controversial letter signed by 51 intelligence veterans, which raised doubts about the authenticity of the Hunter Biden laptop story. Trump believed that these combined factors played a role in his electoral outcome.
Continuing the discussion, Trump went on to justify his actions during the U.S. Capitol breach by presenting apparent screenshots of his own tweets as evidence to support his argument. He also expressed his intention to potentially grant pardons to a significant number of individuals involved in the events that took place on January 6th.
The former president also said he did not know Carroll just one day after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming her but not liable for rape. “She’s a whack job,” Trump added.
During the event, participants, including Republicans and undeclared voters intending to vote in New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary, raised various topics for discussion. Eventually, the conversation shifted toward key issues, and Trump reiterated his well-known stances on safeguarding the Second Amendment, formulating energy policies, and ensuring security along the southern border. Additionally, he offered a prediction that Democrats would ultimately capitulate in the ongoing debt ceiling dispute.
Several notable moments arose during the exchanges, particularly when Trump proposed a strategy to establish peace by facilitating talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Russians and Ukrainians, I want them to stop dying,” Trump said. “And I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
