Last night, CNN hosted a live Republican Presidential Town Hall in New Hampshire with former President Donald J. Trump. Despite having an awful host, Trump did a fantastic job answering questions about important topics like January 6, the war in Ukraine, abortion, and election fraud.

Donald Trump with CNN Town Hall host Kaitlin Collins

When Trump walked onto the CNN stage Wednesday night, he was met with a standing ovation from the audience.

 

Right off the bat, CNN host Kaitlin Collins pressed Trump about his response to January 6, asking why he waited three hours to tell his supporters to go home.

“Over 140 officers were injured that day,” said Collins, trying to make it seem like Trump didn’t care about the effect the riots had on human safety.

“And a person named Ashli Babbitt was killed,” Trump interjected. “There was no reason to shoot her… and she was a good person, she was a patriot.”

Without giving any respect to the woman killed at the Capitol that day, Collins continued to insist that Trump waited three hours before reaching out to his supporters.

“Why did you – Why did it take you three hours to tell them to go home?” asked Collins.

“I don’t believe it did,” Trump replied, reaching inside his jacket to pull out papers with records of his tweets from Jan 5 and 6.

He informed Collins that, on January 5, he tweeted “Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement, they are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful.”

He then read a tweet from January 6 at 2:30 p.m. that was removed from Twitter after he posted it which said, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful.”

“They took it down – I don’t know why. I think they took it down because it was so good they didn’t like it being up there,” he joked.

An audience member at the town hall asked Trump about the people who were arrested on January 6 and whether he would pardon them if he is re-elected in 2024.

“I am inclined to pardon many of them,” replied Trump.

The former president then addressed the double standard in the U.S. when it comes to the justice system, using the BLM and Antifa riots as an example since most of those who participated in vandalizing businesses and burning cities were not punished, and those who were punished were not nearly punished nearly as harshly as the people at the Capitol on January 6.

“I’m not trying to justify anything,” Trump said. “But you have two standards of justice in this country.”

“What they’ve done to so many people is nothing. And then what they’ve done to these people, they’ve persecuted these people,” he continued, adding that if he were to be reelected, he intends to pardon a “large portion” of the January 6 rioters.

Trump was also asked about the war in Ukraine and how he would handle that situation if he was re-elected.

“Would you give Ukraine weapons and funding if you were elected?” Collins asked.

“If I’m president, I would have that war settled in one day – 24 hours,” Trump boldly declared.

Elaborating on his plan to end the war, Trump said, “I would meet with Putin, I would meet with Zelensky. They both have weaknesses, they both have strengths.”

“Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” challenged Collins.

Trump responded that he doesn’t think in terms of “winning and losing,” but rather in terms of “getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”

Trying to shut him down, Collins interjected, cutting Trump off to ask again who he wants to win the war.

“I want everybody to stop dying… Russians and Ukrainians,” he firmly replied.

Trump also got a question about the overturning of Roe v. Wade that happened during Joe Biden’s presidency.

The former president praised the controversial Supreme Court ruling and said that he believes those who are pro-abortion are radical, not those who are pro-life.

As the town hall was wrapping up, hack host Collins posed a final question about whether or not he would accept the 2024 election results if he loses in the general election.

“If you are the Republican nominee and you are in that 2024 race, will you commit tonight to accepting the results of the 2024 election?” asked Collins.

Trump replied, “Yeah, if I think it’s an honest election, absolutely I would.”

Collins, unsatisfied with Trump’s response, asked her question again.

“You want me to answer it again?” Trump asked. “If I think it’s an honest election I would be honored to.”

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.