Here we go again.
On Wednesday night, Donald Trump participated in a town hall with CNN, during which the former president and 2024 presidential candidate (legal troubles notwithstanding) doubled down on a number of his most controversial claims.
At one point, he claimed he would stop the Russia-Ukraine war in “one day, 24 hours.” At another point, he maintained that the 2020 election was “rigged” and said he was “inclined” to pardon “many” of the people who participated in the January 6 insurrection. In one particularly chilling moment, he referenced the rape accusation by E. Jean Carroll as nothing more than “hanky panky in a dressing room.” (A Manhattan jury officially disagreed with his assessment earlier this week, when they found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, and awarded her $5 million in damages.)
Trump’s town hall has already been denounced by news outlets as “disastrous” and “unruly.” CNN, too, is under fire for hosting the former president to begin with.
In response to those criticisms (some of which are even coming from actual CNN employees), Chris Licht, the chairman of CNN, spoke out to defend the decision to host Trump.
“I absolutely, unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night,” Licht said, during a network-wide editorial call. “People woke up, and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way that they didn’t the day before. And if someone was going to ask tough questions and have that messy conversation, it damn well should be on CNN.”
If you’re having trouble wading through the many chaotic comments Trump made during the town hall, as well as the controversy over whether or not CNN should have hosted him to begin with, we’re here to help you sort it out.
On Thursday, Katie conducted an Instagram Live interview with her favorite legal expert, former acting U.S. solicitor general Neal Katyal, about what to make of Trump’s messy public showing. You can watch their full conversation right here:
