(Daily Mail) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joy Behar have led condemnation of CNN‘s decision to host a town hall with Donald Trump, which saw the former president bask in the spotlight and repeat a series of lies, joking about being found liable for sexual assault and mocking the moderator as ‘nasty’.
The 70-minute session, held in New Hampshire in front of a strongly pro-Trump crowd, seemed at times more like a Trump rally than an interrogation, as the former president held court and moderator Kaitlan Collins tried to keep control.
During his tense confrontation with Collins he called January 6 a ‘beautiful day’, insisted he had ‘every right’ to take classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, wouldn’t say whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war and said the end of Title 42 would be a ‘day of infamy’.
‘Hope everyone enjoyed CNN tonight. The New Hampshire audience was AMAZING. Thank you!’ wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform after the show.
The town hall set social media on fire, with supporters and critics of the former president animated.
Donald Trump is seen on Wednesday night during a contentious CNN town hall, hosted by Kaitlan Collins. It was his first time on CNN in seven years
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was ‘a profoundly irresponsible decision’ of CNN to host the event
Ocasio-Cortez, a congresswoman representing New York, said it was wrong to give Trump a platform, which he used to attack E. Jean Carroll – the woman who the day before won her sexual assault case against him.
She tweeted that CNN ‘should be ashamed of themselves’.
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
Joy Behar said the CNN show was ‘a joke’, with Trump steamrollering Collins
Charlie Kirk, founder of pro-Trump group Turning Point USA, ridiculed Ocasio-Cortez for her concern.
‘AOC is RAGING that CNN has given a primetime platform to President Trump to remind the American people just how popular and refreshing his policies and approach actually are, and just how horrible Joe Biden’s presidency actually is,’ he tweeted.
Evan Kilgore, an ambassador for Turning Point, said he thought the spectacle would boost Trump’s electoral chances.
‘The crowd is loving Trump at the CNN Town Hall meeting. Lots of cheers and applause. He’s making Kaitlan Collins look hostile and insanely biased,’ he said.
‘Tonight is going to boost his approval.’
Sergio Gor, who published Trump’s books, wrote: ‘President @realdonaldtrump is absolutely on point. Every question has gotten an answer. Does anyone think Joe Biden could handle this type of questioning? NO WAY!’
Musician Trill Clinton tweeted: ‘Trump walked all over Kaitlan Collins. It was sad to watch.
‘But CNN did that on purpose. They wanted someone who Trump could talk over. The entire purpose of the town hall was for ratings and click bait. All of his supporters will go to their website to see him railroad her.’
