(Goffstown) An exchange in prime time on a channel that he has often showered with insults: Donald Trump, US presidential candidate of 2024, made his comeback on CNN on Wednesday evening.
In a tense public meeting, the former president continued his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the January 6, 2021 violence and repeatedly insulted a woman in response to a civilian jury’s finding this week that was responsible for sexually assaulting her.
During the controversial exchanges moderator Kaitlan Collins sometimes struggled to check the facts in real time, Mr Trump continued to insist that the election had been “rigged”, although state and federal election authorities , his own campaign and White House aides, and numerous courts have dismissed his claims.
Mr. Trump has also repeatedly downplayed the violence caused by a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to prevent President Joe Biden from being certified as a winner. Instead, he said he was inclined to pardon “a large portion” of the Jan. 6 defendants if re-elected. He also rejected a suggestion to apologize to his former vice president, Mike Pence, who had been targeted by the mob.
“I don’t think he was in any danger,” he said. In fact, Mr Trump said, it was Mr Pence who “did something wrong”. “
Throughout the broadcast, the audience, made up of Republican and unaffiliated voters, cheered him on with laughter and applause.
The prime-time forum in New Hampshire brought together a network and a candidate who have long gone head-to-head. But the stakes rose dramatically on Tuesday after New York jurors found Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, though they dismissed her claim that he raped her there. nearly three decades old.
The jury awarded him $5 million in damages. Mr Trump said the judgment was “a disgrace” and promised to appeal.
At Wednesday’s event, Mr. Trump again insisted that he did not know Mr.me Carroll, although he attacked her in very personal terms. “She’s crazy,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
While the civil trial verdict does not carry any criminal penalties, it nevertheless brings renewed attention to the myriad investigations facing Trump, who was indicted in New York in March over payments made to women to cover up their affair allegations. extramarital affairs with him. Mr. Trump is also under investigation in Georgia and Washington over his alleged interference in the 2020 election, his handling of classified documents and possible obstruction of justice.
Show
Before the show, as usual, the former reality TV presenter provided the show. “On the way to New Hampshire. CNN, live, tonight at 8 p.m. ”, he launched on his network, Truth Social.
The choice of this state bordering Canada for this great ritual of American politics owes nothing to chance. New Hampshire is among the first to hold its Republican primaries in early 2024. A victory in this state would guarantee Donald Trump, currently leading the polls, valuable momentum for the rest of his campaign.
That of CNN, a channel with which he has extremely conflicting relations, is much more surprising.
“Enemies of the People”
This exchange is the first that CNN has organized since the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, according to the chain.
Under his presidency, the billionaire had multiplied the blows against the media, qualified as “enemies of the people”.
With special attention to the “Cable News Network”: in 2017, he posted a montage on his Twitter account showing him beating a man, with his face replaced by the channel’s logo.
“You are very rude and a horrible person! “, he had also launched to one of the star journalists of the chain in 2018, before temporarily withdrawing his accreditation to the White House.
Last October, the former president even filed a complaint against CNN. He accused him of having defamed him to dissuade him from running in the 2024 election, claiming $ 475 million in damages.
But in a very competitive media universe, the channels need a show. Donald Trump’s antics, whether shocking or amusing, win audiences — CNN had some of its best scores under his presidency.
“Is this the return of CNN? Or just a masquerade? “, taunted the former tenant of the White House this week.
“They are desperate, and rightly so, to find these exceptional audience figures,” he assured, before urging the channel to deal with Trumpism, according to him “the most extraordinary political movement in history. of our country”, with respect.
The choice to reschedule the tempestuous septuagenarian was however strongly criticized. “Donald Trump tried to destroy American democracy, why is CNN trying to rehabilitate him? “, denounced Michael Fanone, a police officer who had defended the seat of the American Congress on January 6, 2021, during his attack by supporters of the former president.
CNN is also the rival of Fox News, the channel preferred by the conservatives, but which Donald Trump abandoned after his defeat in the presidential election of 2020.
Owned by media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Fox News has courted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s main rival for the Republican nomination.