Trump town hall – live: Ex-president mocks E Jean Carroll and praises ‘cunning’ Putin at CNN event

Donald Trump returned to prime-time mainstream television on Wednesday evening when he took part in a CNN town hall event in New Hampshire in which he used the platform to repeat debunked lies about the 2020 presidential election, praise Vladimir Putin and rehash other familiar falsehoods, prompting the network to attract criticism for hosting him. The network’s own anchors were among those questioning the broadcast, with Jake Tapper lashing out at the ex-president for calling a Black law enforcement officer “a thug” and making fun of E Jean Carroll’s sexual assault. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and DC police officer Michael Fanone likewise criticised the programme, with the New York representative saying CNN should be “ashamed”. The town hall came just one day after Mr Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming the ex-Elle magazine columnist by a Manhattan jury, who ruled he must pay Ms Carroll $5m in damages. Mr Trump referred to the victim as a “whack job” and again insisted he had never met her. Mr Trump barrelled through the hour-long broadcast in a blizzard of dishonest statements, at times talking over moderator Kaitlan Collins’s fact-checking and requests that he answer the questions asked. Read More ‘Putin’s puppet’ Trump refuses to say if Ukraine should win the war against Russia Trump refuses to acknowledge he lost ‘rigged’ 2020 election at CNN town hall Trump calls Kaitlan Collins ‘nasty’ in tense exchange over classified documents at CNN town hall Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking?