Trump news – live: Trump and DeSantis to duel in Iowa as ex-president defends CNN town hall ratings
Donald Trump and his likely 2024 rival Ron DeSantis will fight for voters at duelling events in Iowa today.
Mr DeSantis, whose presidential campaign announcement could come any day now, will spend the day shaking hands at a congressman’s annual picnic and then an Iowa Republican Party fundraiser in Cedar Rapids.
Mr Trump will hold an outdoor rally in Des Moines tonight - one that his campaign team has insisted was not planned in response to Mr DeSantis’ visit to the state.
It comes after Mr Trump defended CNN over his chaotic town hall appearance on Wednesday evening, saying the network did “the right thing” by giving him a mainstream media platform.
The former president has also begun his appeal against the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation earlier this week.
Ms Carroll, 79, has meanwhile said she may sue Mr Trump for a third time over his “vile” comments during Wednesday’s broadcast, telling The New York Times that his comments were “just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people”.
Key points
Jeffries slams Trump on economy as debt limit fight ramps up
Ron DeSantis’s super PAC calls CNN town hall ‘an hour of nonsense’
Trump’s sexual assault verdict marks a rare moment of accountability
Trump tells GOP to ‘do a default’ if needed in debt limit fight
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
ICYMI: Trump cancels Iowa rally over tornado threat and tells supporters to seek shelter
23:51 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump has been forced to cancel his rally scheduled for Saturday evening in Iowa due to expected severe weather.
By mid-afternoon, a tornado watch was in effect from one side of the state to the other with De Moines at the centre.
At 3.30pm ET the former president posted on Truth Social: “Tornado Watch in Iowa. For safety of our great Patriots, we have been asked to delay or cancel today’s sold out Rally.”\
Oliver O’Connell reports for The Independent.
Trump cancels Iowa rally over tornado threat and tells supporters to seek shelter
Where do the 2024 candidates stack up in the polls? The answer might surprise you
23:05 , Josh Marcus
Joe Biden is still narrowly leading the 2024 pack, according to a Yahoo! News/ You Gov poll released earlier this week.
He tops the field with a two-point lead over Donald Trump, and a three-point lead over Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Obscure trust tie to porn-linked bank could take stake in Trump media company after merger
22:40 , Josh Marcus
ES Family Trust, an obscure financial entity tied to a Caribbean bank known for taking payments from the adult entertainment industry, could become a prominent shareholder in a Trump media company, The Washington Post reports.
The trust, whose owners are still unclear, reportedly offered Trump Media and Technology Group an $8m loan in exchange for eventual shares in the company once it completed a still-stalled merger.
The opaque identity of ES Family Trust, or the fact it reportedly never disclosed to regulators it would assume partial ownership of the Trump company, may be why the former president’s planned special purpose acquisition company merger hasn’t been approved.
Trump cancels Iowa rally over tornado threat and tells supporters to seek shelter
22:15 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump has been forced to cancel his rally scheduled for Saturday evening in Iowa due to expected severe weather.
By mid-afternoon, a tornado watch was in effect from one side of the state to the other with De Moines at the centre.
At 3.30pm ET the former president posted on Truth Social: “Tornado Watch in Iowa. For safety of our great Patriots, we have been asked to delay or cancel today’s sold out Rally.”
He added: “I am near the Palm Beach Airport, ready to go, but we are on hold because of the very bad weather in Iowa. Please Seek Shelter or Safe Haven!”
Oliver O’Connell has the details.
Trump cancels Iowa rally over tornado threat and tells supporters to seek shelter
Why does Eric Trump want to sue Rachel Maddow?
00:07 , Josh Marcus
Eric Trump has reportedly threatened to sue MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow for pointing out that he will appear alongside anti-Semitic speakers during a ReAwaken America Tour stop at Trump National Doral in Miami this weekend.
Donald Trump‘s younger son is scheduled to speak this weekend along with his wife, former Fox News contributor Lara Trump, alongside right-wing influencers Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, who have been accused of spreading anti-Smitic conspiracy theories and praising Adolf Hitler, according to The Daily Beast.
Maddow made note of the speaker schedule and expressed shock that one of Mr Trump’s sons would publicly appear alongside them.
Graig Graziosi has the full story.
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
New Fox News texts show Tucker Carlson defending Trump
21:50 , Josh Marcus
Tucker Carlson discussed trying to steer the overall direction of Fox News in a more pro-Trump direction and threatening colleagues who didn’t go along with his vision following the 2020 election, according to text messages obtained as part of the now-settled Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against the network.
In the 19 November 2020 messages, obtained by The Daily Beast, Carlson reportedly responds to a message from producer Justin Wells regarding a story viewed as critical of Mr Trump, which featured references to “the growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.”
“We’re not going to succeed if this continues,” Carlson allegedly said in the messages. “The brand will be too damaged. We should jump on a couple of examples just to send a clear message. Let’s start with this one. Can we find out who did this?”
I’m happy to start threatening people individually,” he added. “It’s too much. And again, it will hurt us badly if we let it continue.”
Get all the details in our full story.
Texts show Tucker Carlson wanted to ‘start threatening people’ for criticising Trump
Ron DeSantis awkwardly skips meeting voters after Iowa speech
21:25 , Josh Marcus
Ron DeSantis is in Iowa today, a typical early stop on presidential campaigns where candidates meet voters face-to-face to build their profile in the important primary state.
That wasn’t the case with the Florida governor.
Mr DeSantis reportedly “made little effort to connect with voters one-on-one at a picnic fundraiser in Sioux Center as several hundred conservatives ate hamburgers,” according to the Associated Press.
Such details play into the Trump campaign’s narrative about Mr DeSantis.
The former president has been hammering his rival for being dull, calling on him to get a “personality transplant.”
Ron DeSanctimonious needs a PERSONALITY TRANSPLANT! pic.twitter.com/dR4oLtYqmF
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 12, 2023
Trump cancels Iowa rally
20:55 , Josh Marcus
The Trump-DeSantis Iowa showdown will have to be another day.
Donald Trump announced on Saturday afternoon he’s canceling his Des Moines rally today due to tornado warnings in Iowa.
“Stay tuned, we will reschedule soon,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Be safe out there!”
FBI raids Trump Tower condo owned by two Russian businessmen
20:33 , Josh Marcus
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided a condo owned by two Russian businessmen at one of the three Trump Towers on Sunny Isles Beach in Florida.
A squad of FBI agents, assisted by local police, carried out the raid on Thursday morning at the luxury beachfront high-rise, The Miami Herald reports.
The target of the search, Unit 4102, is owned by a shell company, MIC-USA LLC, which is controlled by Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Agunda Konstantinovna Makeeva, accordion to state records.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Miami field office said the bureau “was conducting court-ordered law enforcement activity in the vicinity of that location”.
Oliver O’Connell has the full story.
FBI raids Trump Tower condo owned by two Russian businessmen
Is Ron DeSantis’s campaign over before it even began?
19:59 , Josh Marcus
Ron DeSantis, once touted as a serious rival for Donald Trump in 2024, may be losing the GOP race before he’s even formally entered.
A new profile in The New York Times details how Mr DeSantis hasn’t been able to capture the minds of donors and allies in politics the same way as Donald Trump.
Some argue this is because Mr DeSantis is in a bubble, in a conservative supermajority in Florida where his agenda passes quickly, and where he avoids interviews with a whiff of scrutiny.
“The Murdochs encapsulated him in a bubble and force-fed him to a conservative audience,” Steve Bannon, a former strategist for Mr Trump, told the paper. “He hasn’t been scuffed up. He hasn’t had these questions put in his grill.”
Others say the Florida governor is faltering because he’s waited too long to enter the 2024 race, miscalculating that a bag full of legilsative achievements would be a boost. The delay, this line of thinking goes, gave Donald Trump too much time to attack.
In Iowa, DeSantis slams GOP’s ‘culture of losing’ and ‘excuses'
19:30 , Josh Marcus
Ron DeSantis is in Iowa today, and he had some choice words for the Republican party, including what might be a not-so-subtle attack on his 2024 rival Trump.
“We must reject the culture that has infected our party in recent years,” Mr DeSantis told the crowd in Sioux Center. “The time for excuses is over. We’ve got to demonstrate the courage to lead and the strength to win.”
The Florida governor, who has not formally announced a presidential campaign but appears to be running one anyway, said the key to a 2024 win for the GOP is looking forward.
“If we make the 2024 election a referndum on Joe Biden and his failures, and if we provide a positive alternative for the future of this country, Republicans will win across the board,” he continued. “If we do not do that, if we get distracted, if we focus the election on the past or other issues, then I think the Democrats are going to beat us again.”
The remarks could be seen as a jab at Trump, who perenially focuses on gripes about the past, including repeatedly and falsely claiming he won the 2020 election, even three years later.
Did CNN promise Trump friendly guests in exchange for his high-profile town hall appearance?
19:00 , Josh Marcus
That’s the latest from The Guardian.
The network reportedly began courting Mr Trump for a town hall soon after he announced for 2024.
They secured his participation, multiple people close to the former president told the paper, because it was understood his presence would mean more pro-Trump guests on CNN.
The network denied any such quid pro quo.
Fallout continues for CNN over Trump town hall
18:30 , Josh Marcus
Critics continue to hammer CNN for hosting an in-depth primetime Trump event.
On MSNBC on Saturday, host Joy Reid called the event a “MAGA version of the Jerry Springer show” and said those defending the network’s decision are making “straw man arguments.”
Watch her full monologue below.
“Gaslighting.” Joy Reid rips into CNN, including Anderson Cooper, for defending their Trump Town Hall. (Video: MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/1iVBr10FSh
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 13, 2023
Donald Trump Jr attacks E Jean Carroll following rape trial verdict
18:00 , Josh Marcus
This week, Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll, then defaming her by claiming she lied about it.
That hasn’t stopped Mr Trump or his children for going after the former Elle magazine columnist.
On Saturday, Donald Trump, Jr, claimed on Twitter the case was a “political hit job” because Ms Carroll once wrote on Facebook she was a fan of The Apprentice, the former president’s once-popular reality show.
This seems like a perfectly normal thing to say given the accusations?!?
Unless, of course, the accusations were totally fabricated and made up recently as a political hit job. https://t.co/zolszTz7QI— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 13, 2023
Trump told over 2 lies per minute at CNN town hall
17:30 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump reportedly told more than two lies per minute at his recent CNN town hall, according to the Lincoln Project.
The anti-Trump conservative advocacy group released an ad on Saturday claiming the former president lied 139 times during the 61-minute event.
Trump lies as he breathes, but no matter how many times Trump lies the fact won’t change that he unfit for the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/VCr9pNclTQ
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 13, 2023
CNN has been widely condemned for hosting the town hall, which critics argued gave Trump an uncritical forum to continue spreading false information about topics like the 2020 election.Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s report on the aftermath of the CNN event.
CNN sparks fury with Trump town hall where he repeats Big Lie and gives Putin a pass
FBI agents raid Trump Towers condo unit in Florida
17:00 , Josh Marcus
The FBI searched a unit within the Trump Towers development in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, the Miami Herald reports.
The $1.65m unit is owned by shell company controlled by two Russian businessmen, Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Agunda Konstantinovna Makeeva.
The FBI told the paper the search was “court-ordered law enforcement activity in the vicinity of that location.”
“I can’t talk about it,” MrPatsulya’s told the Herald. “The lawyer [for my husband] said not to talk to anyone. ... I have no idea what it’s about.
The former president signed a licensing deal in 2016 with the real estate development to place his name on the 45-story condo unit.
Pollsters learn their lesson: Don’t count out Trump
16:32 , Josh Marcus
Who will win in 2024? We won’t know until next November.
In the meantime, we’ll have to trust the pollsters.
Political pros are reportedly adjusting their methodologies ahead of the upcoming presidential election, after continuing to be surprised by Donald Trump’s success, first in upsetting Hillary Clinton in 2016, then when he ran a far closer race with Joe Biden than projected in 2020.
“It’s looking a lot like Trump is going to be on the ballot,” Democratic pollster Andrew Baumann told Politico. “So that is all back with a vengeance.”
Trump says Fox News ‘wants in on the action’ after CNN town hall
16:00 , Megan Sheets
Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday morning to boast that Fox News will air his Iowa rally tonight.
He credited the move to the ratings CNN received for his town hall earlier in the week. He also took a shot at Ron DeSantis, who is also in Iowa today.
“FoxNews called to inform us that they will be airing the entire Iowa Rally tonight,” he wrote. “They saw the record numbers done on CNN and want in on the action. Also, just out, I am leading DeSanctimonious by almost 30 points in FLORIDA, and leading Crooked Joe Biden BIG! See you later in Iowa.”
Trump and DeSantis vie for spotlight in Iowa
15:00 , Associated Press
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump will share the spotlight in Iowa on Saturday, providing a chance to sway influential conservative activists and contrast their campaign styles in Republicans’ leadoff voting state.
Mr DeSantis, expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign any day, is set to wade into Iowa’s hand-to-hand politicking at a congressman’s annual picnic and an Iowa Republican Party fundraiser, while Mr Trump, a candidate since November, hopes to show strength with an outdoor rally with supporters.
Although the two men will be hours away from each other, the split-screen moment in Iowa is a first for the two national Republican powerhouses. It’s an early preview of a match-up between the former president, well ahead of his party rivals in early national polls, and Mr DeSantis, who is viewed widely as his strongest potential challenger.
Read more from the Associated Press:
Trump and DeSantis to court Iowa voters at duelling events today
Democratic Senator slams GOP strategy in debt limit fight
14:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy took to Twitter on Friday to slam the GOP strategy in the fight over the debt limit.
“The Trump Republican agenda is so ridiculously unpopular the only way they can get it passed is to threaten to default and burn down the economy unless they get their way,” he tweeted.
MSNBC host slams CNN for hosting Trump town hall
13:00 , Gustaf Kilander
MSNBC host Nicole Wallace slammed CNN for hosting the town hall event with Donald Trump.
“CNN recently, very publicly parted ways with anchor Don Lemon,” Ms Wallace said on Thursday. “It came in the aftermath of a comment he made on his broadcast that was viewed by his managers as misogynic.”
“Those very same managers are the people who aired Trump’s misogynistic attacks last night on E Jean Carroll that could invite further defamation suits,” the former George W Bush staffer added.
Justice Dept. seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
12:00 , AP
The Justice Department asked a judge Thursday to put on hold a scheduled deposition of Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by an FBI agent who was fired over text messages critical of the former president.
The government said in a federal court filing that a judge should order lawyers for Peter Strzok to take the deposition of FBI Director Christopher Wray before they seek to question Trump. The Justice Department says an interview with Wray may eliminate the need for Trump’s deposition, and that if the judge handling the lawsuit does not grant its request, it will ask a federal appeals court to intervene.
Lawyers for Trump support the Justice Department’s position, according to a footnote in the government’s filing, while Strzok’s attorneys oppose it. Strzok’s legal team has scheduled the deposition for May 24.
Strzok was a veteran counterintelligence agent and a lead official in the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and into Russian election interference and potential coordination between Moscow and the 2016 Trump campaign.
The filing comes as Trump finds himself the subject of criminal investigations by a Justice Department special counsel into efforts by him and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as into the retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Read more:
Justice Dept. seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
Trump appealing jury's sexual abuse verdict and $5 million award
11:00 , AP
Former President Donald Trump is appealing a New York jury’s verdict awarding $5 million to a magazine columnist after the jurors concluded Trump had sexually abused her in the 1990s and defamed her last October.
A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the first step in a process that will move the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll to a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The notice was signed by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, who said after Tuesday’s verdict that he believed there were multiple strong grounds for appeal.
The nine-person jury concluded after less than three hours of deliberations that Carroll had failed to prove it was more likely than not that Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in early spring 1996. But it did find that she had been sexually abused.
It also said in its verdict that Trump defamed Carroll in a social media statement last October.
Read more:
Trump appealing jury's sexual abuse verdict and $5 million award
Tom Nichols says Trump supporters are trying to ‘smother that voice ... that says ‘what a terribly indecent thing I’ve embraced’'
10:00 , Gustaf Kilander
"When Trump's found liable for a sexual assault and you say, 'Well now I'm going to vote for him even harder!' You're not trying to convince other people. You're trying to smother that voice inside yourself that says 'what a terribly indecent thing I've embraced.'" @RadioFreeTom pic.twitter.com/dBkW34kacg
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 12, 2023
Trump goes after Georgia Gov Kemp after 2020 election spat
09:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp won his 2018 primary because of Mr Trump’s support.
Mr Trump feuded with several Georgia officials after the 2020 election after he tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
“In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6 candidates, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle - the widely viewed favorite - and then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp, advanced to the July 24 Republican primary runoff for Governor of Georgia,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “On July 18, 2018, President Donald J. Trump Endorsed Kemp. At the time of the Endorsement, aggregate polling showed Kemp trailing by 3%, 46%-43%. Less than a week after the Endorsement, Kemp won the Republican primary by 38%, 69%-31%. Thank you President Trump!”
Donald Trump warns fans tornado may scuttle Iowa rally
20:48 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump’s big Iowa rally, which comes the same day as rival Ron DeSantis visits the state, may be on hold.
The former president said on Truth Social on Saturday afternoon he’s being held up in Florida because of bad weather in Iowa.
“Tornado Watch in Iowa. For safety of our great Patriots, we have been asked to delay or cancel today’s sold out Rally,” Mr Trump wrote. “I am near the Palm Beach Airport, ready to go, but we are on hold because of the very bad weather in Iowa. Please Seek Shelter or Safe Haven!”
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
08:00 , Graeme Massie
Donald Trump has defended CNN for hosting his controversial town hall event as viewing figures show his ratings for the event were down.
The chaotic event in New Hampshire, which allowed the former president a broad platform to spread election lies and conspiracy theories, drew 3.3 million viewers.
While it made CNN the most watched cable news network on Wednesday night, according to ratings from Nielson, the event drew fewer viewers than town halls he did on Fox News, reported Axios.
The town hall also failed to beat the 3.4 million viewers who tuned into a Joe Biden town hall in 2020 before the presidential election in which he beat Mr Trump.
CNN has been blasted by insiders at the network for its decision for putting on the live event, but Mr Trump came to the network’s defence on Thursday.
Read more:
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
Faith leaders speak out against ‘toxic’ Christian nationalist conference
07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
A far-right Christian nationalist campaign amplifying conspiracy theories and political violence in a message wrapped in biblical prophecy has arrived at one of Donald Trump’s signature properties.
The ReAwaken America Tour has launched a three-day event at Trump National Doral Miami resort this weekend, featuring far-right personalities and Trump-supporting pastors for a conference that draws from tent-revival preaching and trafficks in far-right conspiracy theories and antidemocratic attacks.
The tour, created by Covid-19 conspiracy theorist Clay Clark and supported by one-time Trump administration official and prominent QAnon figure Michael Flynn, has held more than 20 conferences in more than a dozen states over the last two years. The events often draw from or are hosted by megachurches with large congregations.
Alex Woodward has more.
Faith leaders protest Christian nationalist conference at Trump’s Miami resort
Trump again pushes notion DeSantis wouldn’t have won 2018 governor’s race without his support
07:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday morning to blast the man expected to be his top rival for the Republican nomination in 2024 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“In December 2017, Ron Desanctimonious was polling at 5% in the Republican primary for Governor of Florida. DeSantis had virtually no endorsements and was being drastically out-raised by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the widely-viewed favorite,” Mr Trump wrote. “Ron had zero chance of winning. On December 21, 2017, President Donald J. Trump Endorsed in support of DeSanctus. His polling skyrocketed, and DeSantis won the Republican primary, 57% - 37%, all because of President Trump.”
Anderson Cooper tells viewers they have ‘every right’ to never watch CNN again
06:16 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Following the controversial and highly criticised CNN town hall featuring Donald Trump, one of the network’s top hosts, Anderson Cooper, addressed the backlash and attempt to justify the event.
The town hall featured Mr Trump in a moderated discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and promised to pardon Capitol rioters charged with crimes for their participation in the insurrection attempt two years ago.
Cooper opened his show, Anderson Cooper 360, by addressing the town hall and the negative reaction it generated.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Anderson Cooper says viewers have every right to abandon CNN after Trump town hall
CNN CEO told Trump to have ‘a good conversation and have fun’ ahead of town hall, report says
06:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Mr Trump told CNN CEO Chris Licht before the town hall that he would increase the network’s ratings.
Mr Licht nodded and told Mr Trump he should have “a good conversation and have fun” according to The Guardian.
The Lincoln Project noted that a town hall event with President Joe Biden in 2020 drew more viewers.
Trump CNN Town Hall: 3.31 million viewers
Biden CNN Town Hall April ‘20: 3.47 million viewers
Loser in ‘20. Loser in ’23.— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 12, 2023
Following the town hall with Mr Trump, Mr Biden tweeted: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, pitch in to our campaign.”
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
05:00 , Graig Graziosi
Eric Trump has reportedly threatened to sue MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow for pointing out that he will appear alongside anti-Semitic speakers during a ReAwaken America Tour stop at Trump National Doral in Miami this weekend.
Donald Trump‘s younger son is scheduled to speak this weekend along with his wife, former Fox News contributor Lara Trump, alongside right-wing influencers Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, who have been accused of spreading anti-Smitic conspiracy theories and praising Adolf Hitler, according to The Daily Beast.
Maddow made note of the speaker schedule and expressed shock that one of Mr Trump’s sons would publicly appear alongside them.
“I can’t really believe they are going ahead with it,” she said on a Monday broadcast.
Eric Trump took to Twitter the following night to complain about the story, saying Maddow was “walking a fine line” and insisting that his family is the “most pro-Israel family in American political history.”
Read more:
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
Trump campaign uses footage from Ukraine in attempt to depict Americans suffering from rising housing costs
04:30 , Gustaf Kilander
The Trump campaign used stock footage of a man sitting in a basement, claiming that it was an American unable to afford a home while it was actually filmed in Ukraine 25 miles from the frontline.
The dramatic footage shows a man working on his laptop as he shelters from the shelling of the Russian invasion in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine last year, according to the New York Post.
In the ad released on Wednesday, the Trump campaign slammed President Joe Biden for the effect inflation has had on Americans during his time in the White House.
To make this argument, instead of using footage of Americans, the Trump campaign used footage from Ukraine, showing the man sitting in a basement as a voiceover claims that young Americans can’t buy homes because of high inflation.
Another piece of stock footage used in the video shows a young couple seemingly walking away from a real estate agent. That clip was also filmed in Ukraine, in Lviv, in the western part of the country in 2021 before the war began in February of last year.
Read more:
Trump campaign uses footage from Ukraine in ad about US
‘Nobody was going anywhere’: Dem Senator slams Cruz on border crossings claim
04:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Texas Senator Ted Cruz lost his cool with a reporter when asked about what the GOP has done about the situation at the southern border.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said, claiming that the number of crossings hit a record-low under Mr Trump.
@tedcruz excoriates reporter for asking what Republicans have done to ease the southern border crisis.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Cruz says, citing the record-low number of crossings during the Trump years. @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/sJFtp8Lpym— Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) May 12, 2023
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: “There were ‘record low’ crossings during the Trump Administration in the same way there was ‘record low’ pollution or ‘record low’ gas prices. We were in the middle of a pandemic where 1 million Americans died. Nobody was going anywhere.”
Recap: Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
03:30 , Joe Sommerlad
Donald Trump is appealing the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Ms Carroll was awarded $5m earlier this week by the jury in her civil trial in Manhattan.
The appeal was filed not long after Judge Lewis Kaplan entered the judgement in the case, according to CNN.
Ms Carroll, an author and magazine journalist, claimed in the trial that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Mr Trump has consistently denied the allegation, claiming never even to have met Ms Carroll, despite her being in possession of a picture of them together.
Read more:
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict
View host Joy Behar asks: ‘Was CNN passing out Kool-Aid?’
03:00 , Joe Sommerlad
Having said on an earlier instalment of the popular ABC chat show that she believed it was right for CNN to give Trump a mainstream platform, The View’s Joy Behar said she had changed her mind after watching Wednesday’s town hall, complaining the New Hampshire audience had been packed with members of “his cult”.
“I was wrong,” she conceded on Thursday’s show, alluding to the earlier disagreement with colleague Sunny Hostin.
“She said they shouldn’t show him, and I said they should, because I’m a very big defender of the First Amendment, and I believe that everybody should show who they really are and let’s vote accordingly.
“But what I didn’t know was that the audience would be filled with his cult. I would like to know if CNN was passing out Kool-Aid before the event started.”
“I would like to know if CNN was passing out Kool-Aid before the event started,” says Joy Behar @TheView. She was disappointed @CNN gave Trump a platform to spew his lies and hate. Behar added “What I didn’t know was his audience would be filled with his cult.” #cnntrump pic.twitter.com/SiNHoPpgeP
— Rebecca Aguilar (@RebeccaAguilar) May 11, 2023
She continued: “Why would CNN put only Republicans and people who love him in the audience? If I do a comedy show and everybody loves me, I’m going to be funnier. That’s how it works. But if you have people who don’t particularly think you’re that funny, you have to work harder.
“That’s what I saw last night. I saw a bad stand-up comedian with a bunch of people in his cult who love him. And that is not American, as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again in vicious attack at CNN town hall a day after $5m sex abuse trial verdict
02:30 , Joe Sommerlad
Donald Trump used his platform on CNN to lash out at E Jean Carroll just a day after a jury found that he had sexually abused and defamed the former journalist.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable of raping Ms Carroll, but it found the one-time president more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll.
Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation and awarded her a total of $5m.
The twice-impeached president mocked Ms Carroll at the CNN town hall that aired just a day after the verdict.
Read more:
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again at CNN town hall hours after $5m trial verdict
Trump to get schooled on rules after district attorney worries he'll use evidence to slam witnesses
02:00 , Gustaf.Kilander
Donald Trump was ordered Thursday to appear by video at a 23 May hearing in a Manhattan criminal case after a judge this week set rules barring him from using evidence in the case to attack witnesses.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan scheduled the hybrid hearing — the former president on a TV screen, his lawyers and prosecutors in court — to go over the restrictions with Mr Trump and to make clear that he risks being held in contempt if he violates them.
The case is continuing in state court even as Mr Trump’s lawyers seek to have it moved to federal court. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is considering the transfer request, issued an order this week setting paperwork deadlines and a hearing for late June.
Judge Merchan, still in charge while that drama plays out, agreed to instruct Mr Trump on the rules by video, rather than in person, after a prosecutor reminded him last week that bringing Mr Trump to court would present mammoth security and logistical challenges.
Mr Trump’s 4 April arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, attracted a crush of media and protesters, involved multiple street closures, extra security screenings and shut down non-Trump court business for an afternoon.
“We’ll setup the camera for Mr Trump to appear wherever he is at that time and we’ll do it here in the courtroom virtually,” Merchan said.
Judge Merchan issued what’s known as a protective order on Monday, days after a hearing where he urged Mr Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to reach a compromise regarding the Republican’s access to and use of evidence turned over by prosecutors prior to trial.
Trump may be sued again by E Jean Carroll after he called sexual abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
01:30 , Graeme Massie
E Jean Carroll says that she may sue Donald Trump again after the former president branded her sexual abuse claim against him “fake” and a “made up story” during a CNN town hall.
Mr Trump’s lashed out at Ms Carroll just one day after a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and ordered him to pay $5m in damages.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable of raping Ms Carroll, but it found the one-time president more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll.
During the CNN event on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump described her as a “whack job” and called the trial “rigged”.
Read more:
Carroll may sue Trump again after he called sex abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
Faith leaders speak out against ‘toxic’ Christian nationalist conference arriving at Trump’s Miami resort
01:16 , Graeme Massie
A far-right Christian nationalist campaign amplifying conspiracy theories and political violence in a message wrapped in biblical prophecy has arrived at one of Donald Trump’s signature properties.
Faith leaders protest Christian nationalist conference at Trump’s Miami resort
Trump calls police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt a ‘thug’ during CNN town hall
01:00 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump once again demonised the Capitol police who that shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt on 6 January, 2021.
During a much-maligned CNN town hall featuring the former president, Mr Trump called the officer, who is Black, a “thug.”
In addition, he falsely said that the officer bragged about killing Babbitt. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who moderated the town hall, pushed back on that claim.
Babbitt was a former member of the US Air Force and a Trump loyalist when she answered the then-president’s call to protest the 2020 election results in Washington DC.
She was wearing a Trump flag tied around her neck like a cape when she attempted to climb into the Capitol through a broken window. An officer inside the building shot and killed her.
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Trump calls police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt a ‘thug’ during CNN town hall
VOICES: CNN is defending its disgusting Trump town hall. But the consequences have only just begun
Saturday 13 May 2023 00:30 , Noah Berlatsky
Pundits and critics have been pretty much united in denouncing CNN’s disgusting Donald Trump town hall. The former president predictably spread his usual lies about the 2020 election. He also again insulted E Jean Carroll, a journalist he was found liable of sexually assaulting.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper tried to defend the debacle by insisting that the network had helped people get out of their “silo” and see the danger Trump posed. But no one was impressed. “I don’t believe the choices are between hosting live a firehose of falsehood and ‘staying in your silo,’” NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen tweeted. Former George W Bush speechwriter Matthew Dowd summed up the general sentiment, saying that CNN “failed journalism and our country.”
All of the vilification is well deserved. CNN’s Trump town hall did harm the country. But there’s been little discussion of those perhaps most directly damaged by the event: Trump’s Republican opponents. Just as in 2016, the media is convinced that Trump can boost ratings. And just as then, their fascination with him is likely to give him a big boost not in the general, but in the GOP primary.
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CNN is defending its disgusting Trump interview. But the consequences have just begun
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll $5m verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
Saturday 13 May 2023 00:00 , Gustaf Kilander and Sravasti Dasgupta
Donald Trump is appealing the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Ms Carroll was awarded $5m earlier this week by the jury in the civil trial in Manhattan.
The appeal was filed not long after Judge Lewis Kaplan entered the jury’s verdict in the case, according to CNN.
Ms Carroll, an author and magazine journalist, claimed in the trial that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Mr Trump has consistently denied the allegation.
Read more:
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict
Democratic Senator slams GOP strategy in debt limit fight
Friday 12 May 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy took to Twitter on Friday to slam the GOP strategy in the fight over the debt limit.
“The Trump Republican agenda is so ridiculously unpopular the only way they can get it passed is to threaten to default and burn down the economy unless they get their way,” he tweeted.
MSNBC host slams CNN for hosting Trump town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander
MSNBC host Nicole Wallace slammed CNN for hosting the town hall event with Donald Trump.
“CNN recently, very publicly parted ways with anchor Don Lemon,” Ms Wallace said on Thursday. “It came in the aftermath of a comment he made on his broadcast that was viewed by his managers as misogynic.”
“Those very same managers are the people who aired Trump’s misogynistic attacks last night on E Jean Carroll that could invite further defamation suits,” the former George W Bush staffer added.
Impossible task or journalism fail? Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s rising star who faced Trump and lost
Friday 12 May 2023 22:30 , Oliver O’Connell
A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin has moderated an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news.
We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging.
After spending two years working on the entertainment desk of The Daily Caller, the outlet founded by Tucker Carlson in 2010, Collins moved over to become the website’s White House correspondent, having also covered the 2016 election for the outlet.
“The day [Mr Trump] was inaugurated was my first day covering the White House, and it was obviously an adventure that started that day,” she said in an interview with In Style magazine. “We had no idea what was ahead of us.”
Read more:
Kaitlan Collins: CNN’s rising star who went head-to-head with Trump
Justice Dept. seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
Friday 12 May 2023 22:00 , AP
The Justice Department asked a judge Thursday to put on hold a scheduled deposition of Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by an FBI agent who was fired over text messages critical of the former president.
The government said in a federal court filing that a judge should order lawyers for Peter Strzok to take the deposition of FBI Director Christopher Wray before they seek to question Trump. The Justice Department says an interview with Wray may eliminate the need for Trump’s deposition, and that if the judge handling the lawsuit does not grant its request, it will ask a federal appeals court to intervene.
Lawyers for Trump support the Justice Department’s position, according to a footnote in the government’s filing, while Strzok’s attorneys oppose it. Strzok’s legal team has scheduled the deposition for May 24.
Strzok was a veteran counterintelligence agent and a lead official in the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and into Russian election interference and potential coordination between Moscow and the 2016 Trump campaign.
The filing comes as Trump finds himself the subject of criminal investigations by a Justice Department special counsel into efforts by him and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as into the retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Read more:
Justice Dept. seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
Trump appealing jury's sexual abuse verdict and $5 million award
Friday 12 May 2023 21:30 , AP
Former President Donald Trump is appealing a New York jury’s verdict awarding $5 million to a magazine columnist after the jurors concluded Trump had sexually abused her in the 1990s and defamed her last October.
A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the first step in a process that will move the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll to a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The notice was signed by Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, who said after Tuesday’s verdict that he believed there were multiple strong grounds for appeal.
The nine-person jury concluded after less than three hours of deliberations that Carroll had failed to prove it was more likely than not that Trump had raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in early spring 1996. But it did find that she had been sexually abused.
It also said in its verdict that Trump defamed Carroll in a social media statement last October.
Read more:
Trump appealing jury's sexual abuse verdict and $5 million award
Tom Nichols says Trump supporters are trying to ‘smother that voice ... that says ‘what a terribly indecent thing I’ve embraced’'
Friday 12 May 2023 21:00 , Gustaf Kilander
"When Trump's found liable for a sexual assault and you say, 'Well now I'm going to vote for him even harder!' You're not trying to convince other people. You're trying to smother that voice inside yourself that says 'what a terribly indecent thing I've embraced.'" @RadioFreeTom pic.twitter.com/dBkW34kacg
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 12, 2023
Trump goes after Georgia Gov Kemp after 2020 election spat
Friday 12 May 2023 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp won his 2018 primary because of Mr Trump’s support.
Mr Trump feuded with several Georgia officials after the 2020 election after he tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
“In May 2018, after a contentious primary with 6 candidates, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle - the widely viewed favorite - and then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp, advanced to the July 24 Republican primary runoff for Governor of Georgia,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “On July 18, 2018, President Donald J. Trump Endorsed Kemp. At the time of the Endorsement, aggregate polling showed Kemp trailing by 3%, 46%-43%. Less than a week after the Endorsement, Kemp won the Republican primary by 38%, 69%-31%. Thank you President Trump!”
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
Friday 12 May 2023 20:00 , Graeme Massie
Donald Trump has defended CNN for hosting his controversial town hall event as viewing figures show his ratings for the event were down.
The chaotic event in New Hampshire, which allowed the former president a broad platform to spread election lies and conspiracy theories, drew 3.3 million viewers.
While it made CNN the most watched cable news network on Wednesday night, according to ratings from Nielson, the event drew fewer viewers than town halls he did on Fox News, reported Axios.
The town hall also failed to beat the 3.4 million viewers who tuned into a Joe Biden town hall in 2020 before the presidential election in which he beat Mr Trump.
CNN has been blasted by insiders at the network for its decision for putting on the live event, but Mr Trump came to the network’s defence on Thursday.
Read more:
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
Trump again pushes notion DeSantis wouldn’t have won 2018 governor’s race without his support
Friday 12 May 2023 19:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday morning to blast the man expected to be his top rival for the Republican nomination in 2024 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“In December 2017, Ron Desanctimonious was polling at 5% in the Republican primary for Governor of Florida. DeSantis had virtually no endorsements and was being drastically out-raised by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the widely-viewed favorite,” Mr Trump wrote. “Ron had zero chance of winning. On December 21, 2017, President Donald J. Trump Endorsed in support of DeSanctus. His polling skyrocketed, and DeSantis won the Republican primary, 57% - 37%, all because of President Trump.”
CNN CEO told Trump to have ‘a good conversation and have fun’ ahead of town hall, report says
Friday 12 May 2023 19:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Mr Trump told CNN CEO Chris Licht before the town hall that he would increase the network’s ratings.
Mr Licht nodded and told Mr Trump he should have “a good conversation and have fun” according to The Guardian.
The Lincoln Project noted that a town hall event with President Joe Biden in 2020 drew more viewers.
Trump CNN Town Hall: 3.31 million viewers
Biden CNN Town Hall April ‘20: 3.47 million viewers
Loser in ‘20. Loser in ’23.— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 12, 2023
Following the town hall with Mr Trump, Mr Biden tweeted: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, pitch in to our campaign.”
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
Friday 12 May 2023 18:30 , Graig Graziosi
Eric Trump has reportedly threatened to sue MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow for pointing out that he will appear alongside anti-Semitic speakers during a ReAwaken America Tour stop at Trump National Doral in Miami this weekend.
Donald Trump‘s younger son is scheduled to speak this weekend along with his wife, former Fox News contributor Lara Trump, alongside right-wing influencers Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, who have been accused of spreading anti-Smitic conspiracy theories and praising Adolf Hitler, according to The Daily Beast.
Maddow made note of the speaker schedule and expressed shock that one of Mr Trump’s sons would publicly appear alongside them.
“I can’t really believe they are going ahead with it,” she said on a Monday broadcast.
Eric Trump took to Twitter the following night to complain about the story, saying Maddow was “walking a fine line” and insisting that his family is the “most pro-Israel family in American political history.”
Read more:
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
Trump campaign uses footage from Ukraine in attempt to depict Americans suffering from rising housing costs
Friday 12 May 2023 18:00 , Gustaf Kilander
The Trump campaign used stock footage of a man sitting in a basement, claiming that it was an American unable to afford a home while it was actually filmed in Ukraine 25 miles from the frontline.
The dramatic footage shows a man working on his laptop as he shelters from the shelling of the Russian invasion in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine last year, according to the New York Post.
In the ad released on Wednesday, the Trump campaign slammed President Joe Biden for the effect inflation has had on Americans during his time in the White House.
To make this argument, instead of using footage of Americans, the Trump campaign used footage from Ukraine, showing the man sitting in a basement as a voiceover claims that young Americans can’t buy homes because of high inflation.
Another piece of stock footage used in the video shows a young couple seemingly walking away from a real estate agent. That clip was also filmed in Ukraine, in Lviv, in the western part of the country in 2021 before the war began in February of last year.
Read more:
Trump campaign uses footage from Ukraine in ad about US
‘This is who he is’: Lincoln Project blasts Trump after he’s found liable for sexual abuse
Friday 12 May 2023 17:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Trump has returned to political primetime as the GOP presidential frontrunner. We're here to remind you what kind of monster he is: a sexual abuser. He jokes about it. This is who he is. pic.twitter.com/NMsuQNfOTQ
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 12, 2023
‘Nobody was going anywhere’: Dem Senator slams Cruz on border crossings claim
Friday 12 May 2023 17:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Texas Senator Ted Cruz lost his cool with a reporter when asked about what the GOP has done about the situation at the southern border.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said, claiming that the number of crossings hit a record-low under Mr Trump.
@tedcruz excoriates reporter for asking what Republicans have done to ease the southern border crisis.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Cruz says, citing the record-low number of crossings during the Trump years. @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/sJFtp8Lpym— Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) May 12, 2023
Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: “There were ‘record low’ crossings during the Trump Administration in the same way there was ‘record low’ pollution or ‘record low’ gas prices. We were in the middle of a pandemic where 1 million Americans died. Nobody was going anywhere.”
Jeffries slams Trump on economy as debt limit fight ramps up
Friday 12 May 2023 16:30 , Gustaf Kilander
The Democratic House leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, tweeted on Friday that “Trump ran up more debt than any other President in American history”.
“He wants Republicans to force a dangerous default if they don’t get their way. We cannot let right-wing extremists hold our economy hostage,” he added.
VOICES: The two-word slur that tells us everything we need to know about Donald Trump
Friday 12 May 2023 16:00 , Pragya Agarwal
“A whack-job”. That is what Donald Trump called E Jean Carroll after a nine-member jury found him guilty of sexually abusing her in the 1990s. The former US president, to widespread laughter from CNN Town Hall attendees, dismissed Carroll’s testimony of what she experienced “fake” and “made up”.
What does this teach us? That once again, women’s accounts of what happens to them – to their bodies – are all too easily dismissed as false and invalidated. Want to keep women quiet? It’s easy: call us “crazy” or “hysterical”.
This is not an isolated incident. Throughout history, we have seen examples of women being called “over-emotional”, “excitable”, “over the top” or “too much”. In the Victorian era, “hysterical” women were sent to sanitoriums. Before that, some were hanged as witches. Their “crime”? Acting outside the narrow lines of social norms that were sketched out for them. In some cases, even a woman asking for a divorce could see her deemed “insane” and locked up.
And so, words like “mad” or “nuts” have long been trotted out to silence women, or to make us out as liars – simple phrases, weaponised to try and “prove” that women overexaggerate their own memories and experiences.
Read more:
Opinion: The two-word slur that tells us everything we need to know about Trump
The danger of America’s ageing politicians
Friday 12 May 2023 15:30 , Josh Marcus
Late last month, as Washington’s political and media elite gathered at the Hilton hotel for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Joe Biden, 80, couldn’t gloss over a fact that’s increasingly colouring his political future: He’s just an exceptionally old person to be president.
In fact, he’s the oldest person to ever hold the White House.
“I believe in the First Amendment, not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” the president began in his remarks, before good-naturedly taking The New York Times to task for stories about his age.
“You call me old? I call it being seasoned,” he said. “You say I’m ancient? I say I’m wise. You say I’m over the hill? Don Lemon would say that’s a man in his prime.”
The reference was a telling one. Mr Lemon, who was ousted from CNN last month, caused a minor media scandal when he commented about women of a certain age being past their “prime”. This remark was itself a reaction to former South Carolina governor and current presidential contender Nikki Haley calling, somewhat scandalously, for mental competency tests for politicians over age 75.
Read more:
The danger of America’s aging politicians
‘We did this way better’: Lincoln Project slams Trump 2024 campaign ad
Friday 12 May 2023 15:00 , Gustaf Kilander
We did this way better. pic.twitter.com/QoEWJVNEXc
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) May 10, 2023
The Wire creator says CNN staffers should quit over town hall with ‘fascist’ Trump
Friday 12 May 2023 14:30 , Joe Sommerlad
“If I worked at CNN today, I would quit. Honestly,” says David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun crime reporter before becoming an acclaimed showrunner.
Read more:
David Simon says CNN staffers should quit over town hall with ‘fascist’ Trump
Ron DeSantis’s super PAC calls CNN town hall ‘an hour of nonsense that proved Trump’s stuck in the past’
Friday 12 May 2023 14:00 , Joe Sommerlad
A super PAC backing Florida governor Ron DeSantis has slammed former president Donald Trump’s CNN town hall appearance as the two men prepare to clash in the 2024 Republican presidetial primary.
“On the same day Ron DeSantis was assailing Joe Biden’s border crisis, Donald Trump was on CNN attacking DeSantis and lying about finishing the border wall,” Erin Perrine, the communications director for the super PAC, said in a statement.
“The CNN town hall was, as expected, over an hour of nonsense that proved Trump is stuck in the past. After 76 years, Trump still doesn’t know where he stands on important conservative issues like life and the 2nd Amendment. How does that Make America Great Again?”
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Ron DeSantis’ superPAC slams Trump’s CNN town hall
Trump’s sexual assault verdict marks a rare moment of accountability – and women are noticing
Friday 12 May 2023 13:30 , Joe Sommerlad
Cassandra Nuñez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a US presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly-minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man who bragged about grabbing and kissing women at will.
But Donald Trump became president, and it would be nearly seven years before a Trump accuser could press her claims at trial. This week, jurors in a New York civil case said they believed that Trump sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s – making him the first US president found liable by a jury in a sexual battery case. The panel awarded her $5m in damages.
“It’s a victorious moment, but why did the people of the United States let this happen?” said Nuñez, now 25, of Los Angeles, noting the number of sexual misconduct accusations against Trump during the campaign and since his election. “It’s kind of late.”
The verdict – a rare moment of accountability for a former president and powerful men like him – comes as women across the US ponder the cultural landscape amid sweeping threats to their hard-won progress, including Hillary Clinton‘s loss to Trump in 2016, the Supreme Court’s repeal of abortion rights last year and the uneven success of the #MeToo movement.
Read more:
Trump's sexual assault verdict marks a rare moment of accountability. And women are noticing
Trump tells GOP to ‘do a default’ if needed in debt limit fight
Friday 12 May 2023 13:00 , Joe Sommerlad
Stepping away from the town hall fallout for a moment, here’s the latest on Trump trying to use his influence over the Republican Party in Washington as talks over a resolution to the debt limit crisis continue.
Debt limit fight: Trump tells GOP 'do a default' if needed, but talks with Biden in full swing
Impossible task or journalism fail? Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s rising star who faced Trump and lost
Friday 12 May 2023 12:30 , Oliver O’Connell
A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin has moderated an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news.
We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging.
On Wednesday night, the pair broadcast from a New Hampshire liberal arts college, where Mr Trump faced questions from Collins and an audience of 400 Republican and centrist voters during primetime on CNN.
Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent. She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority.
Born in Alabama to a family she has previously described as “apolitical”, Collins graduated from Alabama University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving into the field shortly afterwards.
Read more:
Kaitlan Collins: CNN’s rising star who went head-to-head with Trump
‘Republicans got what they needed out of this,’ pro-Trump analyst says about Trump town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 12:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Kaitlan Collins was backed up by fellow CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, who criticised pro-Trump analyst David Urban for comparing the event to Joe Biden appearing on Fox News.
Harlow hosted CNN This Morning on Thursday alongside Phil Mattingly with panellists Mr Urban, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times and Van Jones.
“This was a forum where Kaitlan got a lot of news made. A lot of things that we have not heard him talk about. A lot of issues that he has not been pushed [on] because when people are travelling aboard his plane or he’s going to a rally, it’s something very different,” Haberman said. “And so how it all plays for his team, and they’re feeling good that they’re getting cheers, is very different than what it might play out.”
“Kaitlan was like a matador against the biggest bull in American history. And I think she put a lot of knives in that are going to pay off later on in terms of getting him to say stuff that he had not actually said on the record before, I think that’s very important,” Jones added.
“Yeah, but with Maggie’s point... Republicans got what they needed out of this – Trump... he’s tough, pugilistic. People like the base like to see that,” Urban noted. “He’s in there mixing up with the media again. Not a friendly environment for Donald Trump to come back to CNN. I kind of joked that you would never see Joe Biden wading into Fox News, a debate...”
“I don’t think that’s a fair comparison,” Harlow said.
Mr Jones noted that the audience for Mr Trump’s CNN appearance was “friendly”.
“I also think you can’t get a more objective journalist and interviewer than Kaitlan Collins,” Harlow added.
“Kaitlan did a great job. I’m just saying that Biden is not going to, he’s not going to stand up and do that. I would love to see him take questions,” Urban said.
“But with whom? Sean Hannity?” Haberman pressed.
Recap: Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
Friday 12 May 2023 11:30 , Joe Sommerlad
Donald Trump is appealing the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Ms Carroll was awarded $5m earlier this week by the jury in her civil trial in Manhattan.
The appeal was filed not long after Judge Lewis Kaplan entered the judgement in the case, according to CNN.
Ms Carroll, an author and magazine journalist, claimed in the trial that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Mr Trump has consistently denied the allegation, claiming never even to have met Ms Carroll, despite her being in possession of a picture of them together.
Read more:
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict
AOC blasts ‘shameful’ Trump town hall, says it put abuse victim ‘in harm’s way for views'
Friday 12 May 2023 11:00 , Joe Sommerlad
Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted CNN’s controversial Donald Trump town hall as “shameful”, saying the former president had used the live event to push “rigged” election lies and baseless conspiracy theories.
“CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim,” the New York congresswoman tweeted.
“The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host. This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen.
“Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence.”
Read more:
AOC blasts CNN’s Trump town hall as she brands it ‘shameful’
View host Joy Behar asks: ‘Was CNN passing out Kool-Aid?’
Friday 12 May 2023 10:30 , Joe Sommerlad
Having said on an earlier instalment of the popular ABC chat show that she believed it was right for CNN to give Trump a mainstream platform, The View’s Joy Behar said she had changed her mind after watching Wednesday’s town hall, complaining the New Hampshire audience had been packed with members of “his cult”.
“I was wrong,” she conceded on Thursday’s show, alluding to the earlier disagreement with colleague Sunny Hostin.
“She said they shouldn’t show him, and I said they should, because I’m a very big defender of the First Amendment, and I believe that everybody should show who they really are and let’s vote accordingly.
“But what I didn’t know was that the audience would be filled with his cult. I would like to know if CNN was passing out Kool-Aid before the event started.”
“I would like to know if CNN was passing out Kool-Aid before the event started,” says Joy Behar @TheView. She was disappointed @CNN gave Trump a platform to spew his lies and hate. Behar added “What I didn’t know was his audience would be filled with his cult.” #cnntrump pic.twitter.com/SiNHoPpgeP
— Rebecca Aguilar (@RebeccaAguilar) May 11, 2023
She continued: “Why would CNN put only Republicans and people who love him in the audience? If I do a comedy show and everybody loves me, I’m going to be funnier. That’s how it works. But if you have people who don’t particularly think you’re that funny, you have to work harder.
“That’s what I saw last night. I saw a bad stand-up comedian with a bunch of people in his cult who love him. And that is not American, as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again in vicious attack at CNN town hall a day after $5m sex abuse trial verdict
Friday 12 May 2023 10:00 , Joe Sommerlad
Donald Trump used his platform on CNN to lash out at E Jean Carroll just a day after a jury found that he had sexually abused and defamed the former journalist.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable of raping Ms Carroll, but it found the one-time president more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll.
Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation and awarded her a total of $5m.
The twice-impeached president mocked Ms Carroll at the CNN town hall that aired just a day after the verdict.
Read more:
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again at CNN town hall hours after $5m trial verdict
CNN praises Collins for Trump interview
Friday 12 May 2023 09:30 , Namita Singh
CNN defended its decision to put Mr Trump on the air in a statement after the event, which was moderated by host Kaitlan Collins.
“Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. She asked tough, fair and revealing questions,” a network spokesperson said.
“She followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner.
“That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.”
US warns migrants against illegal crossings as Title 42 set to expire: ‘Our border is not open’
Friday 12 May 2023 09:00 , Andrew Feinberg
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday warned migrants that the end of pandemic-era border restrictions will not enable them to enter the United States by crossing the US-Mexico border.
Mr Mayorkas appeared at the daily White House press briefing to explain the Biden administration’s preparations for the end of Title 42 – a Trump-era public health restriction which allowed most asylum seekers to be quickly turned back – and stressed that despite the end of the controversial policy, America’s borders “are not open”.
“If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution,” he said.
Mr Mayorkas told reporters the Biden administration has been preparing for the eventual end of Title 42 for the past two years, but he also said he and administration officials are “clear-eyed” about the challenge that will be posed by the large numbers of migrants who are expected to attempt to cross into the US in hopes of gaining asylum.
Read more:
US warns migrants against illegal crossings: ‘Our border is not open’
Trump to get schooled on rules after district attorney worries he'll use evidence to slam witnesses
Friday 12 May 2023 08:30 , Namita Singh
Donald Trump was ordered Thursday to appear by video at a 23 May hearing in a Manhattan criminal case after a judge this week set rules barring him from using evidence in the case to attack witnesses.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan scheduled the hybrid hearing — the former president on a TV screen, his lawyers and prosecutors in court — to go over the restrictions with Mr Trump and to make clear that he risks being held in contempt if he violates them.
The case is continuing in state court even as Mr Trump’s lawyers seek to have it moved to federal court. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is considering the transfer request, issued an order this week setting paperwork deadlines and a hearing for late June.
Judge Merchan, still in charge while that drama plays out, agreed to instruct Mr Trump on the rules by video, rather than in person, after a prosecutor reminded him last week that bringing Mr Trump to court would present mammoth security and logistical challenges.
Mr Trump’s 4 April arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, attracted a crush of media and protesters, involved multiple street closures, extra security screenings and shut down non-Trump court business for an afternoon.
“We’ll setup the camera for Mr Trump to appear wherever he is at that time and we’ll do it here in the courtroom virtually,” Merchan said.
Judge Merchan issued what’s known as a protective order on Monday, days after a hearing where he urged Mr Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to reach a compromise regarding the Republican’s access to and use of evidence turned over by prosecutors prior to trial.
Trump may be sued again by E Jean Carroll after he called sexual abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 08:00 , Graeme Massie
E Jean Carroll says that she may sue Donald Trump again after the former president branded her sexual abuse claim against him “fake” and a “made up story” during a CNN town hall.
Mr Trump’s lashed out at Ms Carroll just one day after a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and ordered him to pay $5m in damages.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable of raping Ms Carroll, but it found the one-time president more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll.
During the CNN event on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump described her as a “whack job” and called the trial “rigged”.
Read more:
Carroll may sue Trump again after he called sex abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
Friday 12 May 2023 07:30 , Namita Singh
Eric Trump has reportedly threatened to sue MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for pointing out that he will appear alongside antisemitic speakers during a ReAwaken America Tour stop at Trump National Doral in Miami this weekend.
Donald Trump’s younger son is scheduled to speak this weekend along with his wife, former Fox News contributor Lara Trump, alongside right-wing influencers Scott McKay and Charlie Ward, who have been accused of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and praising Adolf Hitler, according to The Daily Beast.
Maddow made note of the speaker schedule and expressed shock that one of Mr Trump’s sons would publicly appear alongside them.
Graig Graziosi has more:
Eric Trump threatens to sue Rachel Maddow
Trump calls police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt a ‘thug’ during CNN town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 07:00 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump once again demonised the Capitol police who that shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt on 6 January, 2021.
During a much-maligned CNN town hall featuring the former president, Mr Trump called the officer, who is Black, a “thug.”
In addition, he falsely said that the officer bragged about killing Babbitt. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who moderated the town hall, pushed back on that claim.
Babbitt was a former member of the US Air Force and a Trump loyalist when she answered the then-president’s call to protest the 2020 election results in Washington DC.
She was wearing a Trump flag tied around her neck like a cape when she attempted to climb into the Capitol through a broken window. An officer inside the building shot and killed her.
Read more:
Trump calls police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt a ‘thug’ during CNN town hall
Impossible task or journalism fail? Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s rising star who faced Trump and lost
Friday 12 May 2023 06:30 , Namita Singh
A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin has moderated an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news.
We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging.
Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent.
She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority, reports my colleague Oliver O’Connell.
Kaitlan Collins: CNN’s rising star who went head-to-head with Trump
Indiana GOP Senator says he won’t support Trump for presidential nomination
Friday 12 May 2023 06:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Indiana Republican Senator Todd Young told CNN that he’s not planning on supporting Mr Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024.
When asked why, he said: “Where do I begin?”
About Mr Trump not calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, he said: “I think President Trump’s judgment is wrong in this case. President Putin and his government have engaged in war crimes.”
“That’s why I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination,” he added.
He later added, according to HuffPost: “You want a nominee to win the general election. As President Trump says, I prefer winners. He consistently loses. In fact, he has a habit of losing not just his own elections, but losing elections for others.”
“I can’t think of someone worst equipped to bring people together... and advance our collective values than the former president. I don’t think conservatives would be well served by electing someone whose core competency seems to be owning someone on Twitter,” he added.
Mr Young didn’t answer when asked if he would support Mr Trump if he becomes the GOP presidential nominee.
“I don’t think he’ll be the nominee. Republicans are in a winning mood. We want to win. We know he’s the shortest path to losing,” he said.
Justice Department seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
Friday 12 May 2023 05:30 , Namita Singh
The Justice Department asked a judge on Thursday to put on hold a scheduled deposition of Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by an FBI agent who was fired over text messages critical of the former president.
The government said in a federal court filing that a judge should order lawyers for Peter Strzok to take the deposition of FBI director Christopher Wray before they seek to question Mr Trump.
The Justice Department says an interview with Mr Wray may eliminate the need for Mr Trump’s deposition, and that if the judge handling the lawsuit does not grant its request, it will ask a federal appeals court to intervene.
Lawyers for the former president support the Justice Department’s position, according to a footnote in the government’s filing, while Mr Strzok’s attorneys oppose it.
Report:
Justice Dept. seeks to put Trump deposition on hold in case of FBI agent fired over text messages
VOICES: Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking?
Friday 12 May 2023 05:00 , Andrew Feinberg
Oh, to be a fly on the wall at CNN’s editorial meeting on Thursday.
What did they think would happen when they put Donald Trump and an audience of friendly supporters on live television for an hour and a half?
Did they think treating him like a normal candidate would lead him to act like a normal candidate?
Did they think making the moderator of the town hall a young, female reporter who once worked for the right-wing Daily Caller would lead him to treat her with respect even when she pointed out that he was blatantly lying on any number of topics?
Look, I get the reasoning behind offering Mr Trump a town hall appearance.
Read more:
Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking?
Trump turned his liabilities into laugh lines at CNN town hall, underscoring GOP rivals' challenge
Friday 12 May 2023 04:30 , AP
The Republicans in the audience laughed when former President Donald Trump mocked a woman who accused him of rape. They cheered when he defended his role during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And they applauded again after he said he was “honored” to “terminate Roe v. Wade.”
Trump’s defiant performance at the CNN town hall on Wednesday may ultimately hurt his standing with key groups of voters in next fall’s general election, especially women, suburbanites and independents. But the reaction of those who attended also demonstrated his extraordinary grip on the conservative voters who will soon decide the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.
The magnitude of the challenge ahead for Trump’s Republican rivals was clear as the former president repeatedly turned his greatest political liabilities into jokes and applause lines for the GOP base. On Thursday, a day after the town hall, Trump’s Republican critics conceded they don’t know how to stop him.
Read more:
Trump turned his liabilities into laugh lines at CNN town hall, underscoring GOP rivals' challenge
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drops
Friday 12 May 2023 04:15 , Namita Singh
Donald Trump has defended CNN for hosting his controversial town hall event as viewing figures show his ratings for the event were down.
“I was happy to do it,” Mr Trump told Fox News Digital. “I got the word out to millions of people that would generally not hear this point of view concerning things such as the border, inflation, the economy, energy independence, the Afghanistan catastrophe and more.”
“CNN is taking a lot of heat,” Mr Trump added. “I think CNN did the right thing by putting me on—all you have to do is look at their fantastic ratings.
The chaotic event in New Hampshire, which allowed the former president a broad platform to spread election lies and conspiracy theories, drew 3.3 million viewers.
While it made CNN the most watched cable news network on Wednesday night, according to ratings from Nielson, the event drew fewer viewers than town halls he did on Fox News, reports Axios.
The town hall also failed to beat the 3.4 million viewers who tuned into a Joe Biden town hall in 2020 before the presidential election in which he beat Mr Trump.
CNN has been blasted by insiders at the network for its decision for putting on the live event, but Mr Trump came to the network’s defence on Thursday.
Report:
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
Trump may be sued again by E Jean Carroll after he called sexual abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 04:00 , Graeme Massie
E Jean Carroll says that she may sue Donald Trump again after the former president branded her sexual abuse claim against him “fake” and a “made up story” during a CNN town hall.
Mr Trump’s lashed out at Ms Carroll just one day after a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and ordered him to pay $5m in damages.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
Read more:
Carroll may sue Trump again after he called sex abuse claim ‘fake’ at CNN town hall
Marjorie Taylor Greene praises Melania Trump for being a good immigrant
Friday 12 May 2023 03:30 , Abe Asher
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has praised former First Lady Melania Trump as a model immigrant to the United States as a rule allowing immigration officials to deport migrants as a public health measure ends.
Ms Greene’s comments about Ms Trump came as she was addressing the House of Representatives on Wednesday with remarks about the state of the country’s southern border and broader immigration policies.
“I would like to remind everyone that Republicans believe in legal immigration,” Ms Greene said. “As a matter of fact, we are very proud of our former first lady, Melania Trump, who immigrated legally to the United States. But there is a clear difference in policies when we talk about border and security for the United States of America.”
Ms Greene, a self-identified Christian nationalist who supported efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and lost her committee assignments in the last Congress for endorsing political violence, favours strict immigration control at the US-Mexico border.
Immigration has taken centre stage this week in Washington as Title 42, the public health order put in place that allowed the government to expel migrants who arrived from countries with Covid-19 outbreaks, is lifted today.
Read more:
Marjorie Taylor Greene praises Melania Trump for being a good immigrant
Debt limit fight: Trump tells GOP 'do a default' if needed, but talks with Biden in full swing
Friday 12 May 2023 03:00 , AP
In the search for a budget deal to resolve the government’s debt limit crisis, billions of dollars of unspent COVID money is on the table. So are ideas as far-ranging as easing permits for energy projects and simply ordering broad spending caps — all still in the mix as negotiators from the White House and Congress hunkered down Thursday for the latest round of closed-door talks.
The gears of Washington are beginning to move, not smoothly but determinedly, on resolving the crisis, a turn of events in itself after months of stalemate between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the deadline looms to avert an economy-fracturing national default.
Biden is to meet again with McCarthy and other congressional leaders Friday as talks intensify. Washington is staring down a June 1 deadline to raise the debt limit to allow continued borrowing to cover already accrued bills or risk the nation’s first modern-day debt default.
Then there’s one more development thrown into the works: Donald Trump is urging fellow Republicans to let America default on its debts if they don’t get the budget cutting deal they want from Biden.
Read more:
Debt limit fight: Trump tells GOP 'do a default' if needed, but talks with Biden in full swing
CNN faces backlash over chaotic Trump town hall event
Friday 12 May 2023 02:30 , AP
CNN is facing a backlash over its town hall featuring former President Donald Trump, an event that swiftly turned chaotic in a stark display of the tightrope facing journalists covering a leading 2024 Republican candidate who refuses to play by the rules.
The town hall Wednesday was the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign, and CNN defended its decision to hold it as a chance to put Trump in front of a wider audience, outside of the conservative media bubble he has largely kept to since early in his presidency.
Critics said the event, which was staged in front of Republicans and unaffiliated voters who were expected to vote in the GOP primary, instead turned into a Trump campaign rally that produced little actual news and allowed Trump to repeat longstanding falsehoods while dodging difficult questions
Tom Jones, a senior writer at the media research institute Poynter, said he had favored the idea of CNN holding the town hall at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. But he said he was surprised by the conduct of the audience, which he had expected to be more neutral.
Instead, the crowd gave Trump a standing ovation when he walked onstage, applauded some of his most provocative comments and laughed at many of his quips, including when he criticized E. Jean Carroll, the advice columnist who accused him of raping her in 1996 and this week won a $5 million judgement against him.
Read more:
CNN faces backlash over chaotic Trump town hall event
‘The Hindenburg of TV news’
Friday 12 May 2023 02:15 , Graeme Massie
Former MSNBC broadcaster Keith Olbermann called the town hall “the Hindenburg of TV news”.
“@CNN gave its credibility to Trump’s madness It must fire CEO Chris Licht: its owners must sell the brand they destroyed; E. Jean Carroll must sue over new defamation; @kaitlancollins must sue her agent,” he tweeted.
“If you haven’t been paying attention to Donald Trump for a while, the CNN town hall is a reintroduction to what he’s been telling his supporters for two years,” Garrett Haake of NBC News wrote.
VOICES: Trump’s restrictive immigration policy is ending – but his politics remain under Biden
Friday 12 May 2023 02:00 , Eric Garcia
At midnight on Thursday, Title 42, the policy former president Donald Trump invoked to restrict immigration to the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic, will expire. Already, news stories have abounded about how areas near the US-Mexico border are preparing for an influx of migrants.
The politics of Title 42 are already playing out in Arizona’s Senate race next year. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who last year left the Democratic Party to become an independent, and Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina have introduced legislation to preserve the provision for an additional two years.
Ms Sinema, who spent years angering the left when she had a “D” next to her name, has yet to announce whether she’ll seek re-election. But Representative Ruben Gallego, the Democrat who announced his challenge against her earlier this year, sent four letters to Biden administration officials saying that border communities in Arizona “are simply unequipped to handle the surge of migrants,” NBC News reported.
Mr Gallego is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s political action committee last cycle. The fact that Mr Gallego has expressed concerns about communities near Mexico being overrun shows just how drastically the politics of immigration even among Democrats has changed from the past decade.
For Republicans, ending Title 42 has been a political boon. GOP senators largely dashed any hopes of another Covid-19 relief package last year on the basis of Mr Biden’s decision to end the policy.
Read more:
Trump’s restrictive immigration policy is ending – his politics remain under Biden
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
Friday 12 May 2023 01:34 , Graeme Massie
Former president drew 3.3 million viewers on network, less than he achieved at similar events on Fox News.
Trump defends CNN over town hall as his ratings for event drop
VIDEO: Trump brushes off sex abuse verdict in CNN town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 01:00 , Gustaf Kilander
‘Disgraceful on every level’: Morning Joe goes after CNN for Trump town hall
Friday 12 May 2023 00:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Former Florida Republican Congressman and host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, Joe Scarborough, led the chorus of outrage on Thursday morning, saying that “I’m constantly telling people not to catastrophize over Trump, that he’s actually going to lose because he keeps drilling down deeper and deeper into his base”.
“I’m gonna use catastrophizing language here, but it was just it was disgraceful on every level. I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous for democracy because we passed that a long time ago, but it showed the corrosive effects of Trumpism over eight years,” he added.
“And I’ve got to say the most shocking part was an audience who cheered on a president who tried to overturn American democracy. An audience that mocked and ridiculed a woman who a jury of her peers, of Donald Trump’s peers, found had been sexually assaulted. Those Americans their last night turned that into a punch line.”
“They laughed and dismissed cops getting the s*** kicked out of them on January the sixth, over and over again. Calling a cop a thug, who actually was trying to stop people on the House floor from being killed. I could go just could go on and on,” he said.
‘This is a horror show that we don’t want a rerun of'
Friday 12 May 2023 00:00 , Gustaf Kilander
CNN panellist Van Jones said, “I think if you’re a Democrat watching that you think, ‘We’ve been criticizing and complaining about Biden? This is a horror show that we don’t want a rerun of,’ and I think a lot of Democrats were appalled”.
According to former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, network CEO Chris Licht began an editorial call on Thursday morning by praising Ms Collins for a “masterful performance last night”.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” he added.
“You do not have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say that we didn’t get them,” Mr Licht told employees, many of whom are furious about the Trump event, according to Stelter.
“Kaitlan pressed him again and again and made news. Made a lot of news,” Mr Licht said. “That is our job.”
“While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story,” Mr Licht added.
He said covering Mr Trump is “messy and tricky, but it’s our job” and that “America was served very well by what we did last night”.
Stelter wrote, “Many CNN employees strongly disagree.”
‘Republicans got what they needed out of this,’ pro-Trump analyst says about Trump town hall
Thursday 11 May 2023 23:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Kaitlan Collins was backed up by fellow CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, who criticised pro-Trump analyst David Urban for comparing the event to Joe Biden appearing on Fox News.
Harlow hosted CNN This Morning on Thursday alongside Phil Mattingly with panellists Mr Urban, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times and Van Jones.
“This was a forum where Kaitlan got a lot of news made. A lot of things that we have not heard him talk about. A lot of issues that he has not been pushed [on] because when people are travelling aboard his plane or he’s going to a rally, it’s something very different,” Haberman said. “And so how it all plays for his team, and they’re feeling good that they’re getting cheers, is very different than what it might play out.”
“Kaitlan was like a matador against the biggest bull in American history. And I think she put a lot of knives in that are going to pay off later on in terms of getting him to say stuff that he had not actually said on the record before, I think that’s very important,” Jones added.
“Yeah, but with Maggie’s point ... Republicans got what they needed out of this – Trump ... he’s tough, pugilistic. People like the base like to see that,” Urban noted. “He’s in there mixing up with the media again. Not a friendly environment for Donald Trump to come back to CNN. I kind of joked that you would never see Joe Biden wading into Fox News, a debate...”
“I don’t think that’s a fair comparison,” Harlow said.
Mr Jones noted that the audience for Mr Trump’s CNN appearance was “friendly”.
“I also think you can’t get a more objective journalist and interviewer than Kaitlan Collins,” Harlow added.
“Kaitlan did a great job. I’m just saying that Biden is not going to, he’s not going to stand up and do that. I would love to see him take questions,” Urban said.
“But with whom? Sean Hannity?” Haberman pressed.
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again in vicious attack at CNN town hall a day after $5m sex abuse trial verdict
Thursday 11 May 2023 23:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta
Donald Trump used his platform on CNN to lash out at E Jean Carroll just a day after a jury found that he had sexually abused and defamed the former journalist.
Ms Carroll, 79, sued the former president for raping her in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman in New York in 1996, and then “destroying” her reputation when he claimed she was lying.
The jury didn’t find Mr Trump liable of raping Ms Carroll, but it found the one-time president more likely than not sexually abused Ms Carroll.
Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation and awarded her a total of $5m.
The twice-impeached president mocked Ms Carroll at the CNN town hall that aired just a day after the verdict.
Read more:
Trump defames E Jean Carroll again at CNN town hall hours after $5m trial verdict
Impossible task or journalism fail? Kaitlan Collins, CNN’s rising star who faced Trump and lost
Thursday 11 May 2023 22:30 , Oliver O’Connell
A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin has moderated an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news.
We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging.
On Wednesday night, the pair broadcast from a New Hampshire liberal arts college, where Mr Trump faced questions from Collins and an audience of 400 Republican and centrist voters during primetime on CNN.
Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent. She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority.
Born in Alabama to a family she has previously described as “apolitical”, Collins graduated from Alabama University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving into the field shortly afterwards.
Read more:
Kaitlan Collins: CNN’s rising star who went head-to-head with Trump
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll $5m verdict after being found liable for sexual abuse
Thursday 11 May 2023 22:11 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump is appealing the verdict in the E Jean Carroll case after he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Ms Carroll was awarded $5m earlier this month by the jury in the civil trial in Manhattan.
The appeal was filed not long after Judge Lewis Kaplan entered the judgement in the case, according to CNN.
Ms Carroll, an author and magazine journalist, claimed in the trial that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Berghof Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.
Mr Trump has consistently denied the allegation.
Read more:
Trump to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict
‘Shameful’: AOC blasts CNN’s controversial Trump town hall
Thursday 11 May 2023 22:00 , Graeme Massie
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted CNN’s controversial Donald Trump town hall as “shameful” as the former president used the live event to push “rigged” election lies and baseless conspiracy theories.
“CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim,” the Democratic lawmaker from New York tweeted.
“The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host. This falls squarely on CNN. Everyone here saw exactly what was going to happen.
“Instead they put a sexual abuse victim in harm’s way for views. This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence.”
The event took place in front of an audience of 400 Republican and GOP-leaning independent voters in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
Read more:
AOC blasts CNN’s Trump town hall as she brands it ‘shameful’
US warns migrants against illegal crossings as Title 42 set to expire: ‘Our border is not open’
Thursday 11 May 2023 21:30 , Andrew Feinberg
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday warned migrants that the end of pandemic-era border restrictions will not enable them to enter the United States by crossing the US-Mexico border.
Mr Mayorkas appeared at the daily White House press briefing to explain the Biden administration’s preparations for the end of Title 42 – a Trump-era public health restriction which allowed most asylum seekers to be quickly turned back – and stressed that despite the end of the controversial policy, America’s borders “are not open”.
“If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution,” he said.
Mr Mayorkas told reporters the Biden administration has been preparing for the eventual end of Title 42 for the past two years, but he also said he and administration officials are “clear-eyed” about the challenge that will be posed by the large numbers of migrants who are expected to attempt to cross into the US in hopes of gaining asylum.
Read more:
US warns migrants against illegal crossings: ‘Our border is not open’
VIDEO: Santos chased by reporter as he returns to the Capitol
Thursday 11 May 2023 21:01 , Gustaf Kilander
SANTOS is back in the Capitol pic.twitter.com/CeObIff1ht
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotcnn) May 11, 2023
Click here to read the full blog on The Independent's website
