‘Shameful’ And A ‘Disaster’: CNN Blasted After Lie-Filled Trump Town Hall
Democrats and media watchers blasted CNN Wednesday night over the network’s combative, lie-filled town hall with former President Donald Trump.
Moderator Kaitlan Collins attempted to rein in Trump as he stood by his denial of the results from the 2020 presidential election, rejected the lawsuit that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation against the writer E. Jean Carroll, and defended his decision to take classified documents to Florida after his presidency.
But Collins struggled to fact-check the former president in real-time, and many sharply criticized CNN for putting Trump on-air at all. At one point, Trump called Collins a “nasty person” as she tried to get an answer to a question.
the CNN town hall audience laughs as Trump smears E Jean Carroll pic.twitter.com/HIokiAqIom
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2023
Put almost none of it on Collins. Nobody could manage a serial liar sexual predator authoritarian with an audience hand-picked to cheer on his most insane and offensive comments.
That was a decision her bosses made. https://t.co/rNdLetk4Fm— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) May 11, 2023
“Tonight’s disaster must be a lesson that every other news organization on earth must learn: DO NOT NORMALIZE DONALD TRUMP,” the Lincoln Project, a Republican group opposing Trump, said in a statement. “CNN gave Trump 90 minutes of uninterrupted air time to rewrite history and reset his own narrative.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) said the decision to platform Trump was “shameful” after his appearance, saying his comments Wednesday reflected the difficulty people have coming forward with allegations of sexual assault. Trump mocked Carroll as a “whack job” Wednesday as a friendly audience laughed and applauded him.
“I think it was a profoundly irresponsible decision,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC. “What we saw tonight was a series of extremely irresponsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk...in front of a national audience, and I could not have disagreed with it more.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on CNN town hall with former President Trump: What we saw tonight was a series of extremely irresponsible decisions that put a sexual abuse victim at risk...in front of a national audience, and I could not have disagreed with it more. It was shameful pic.twitter.com/DOrMkBIEzq
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 11, 2023
Michael Fanone, the former Washington, D.C., police officer who was assaulted on Jan. 6, 2021, told HuffPost he was aghast after the town hall.
“It’s worse than I could have ever imagined. It’s an absolute disaster,” Fanone said. “There’s no way to fact-check this guy in real time. He’s a volcano of bullshit.”
New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan reported Wednesday night Trump’s advisers were “thrilled” with his appearance at the town hall.
“They can’t believe he is getting an hour on CNN with an audience that cheers his every line and laughs at his every joke,” he said.
I can’t believe this is being allowed on @cnn. This is promulgating the cult leadership of Trump — and people are laughing at sexual assault. God save us. And now trump says it’s because women LET YOU grab ‘em by the pussy. #TrumpTownHall
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) May 11, 2023
This is CNN's lowest moment as an organization.
(And I remember the glory days of their "balanced" panels back in 2015-2016.)— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) May 11, 2023
What is the journalistic justification for this town hall, @CNN, and how can just justify doing this without having your moderator fact-checking the constant stream of lies you knew were coming?
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 11, 2023
