Global Courant 2023-05-11 06:47:48
GOFFSTOWN, NH — Former President Donald Trump argued that a federal jury’s verdict that he was liable for sexual assault was “a rigged deal” during a contentious prime-time town hall of Republican and independent voters Wednesday night in a pivotal state presidential primary.
City Hall, at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, was held a day after a New York City jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll at a Manhattan luxury department store nearly three decades ago, but not liable for the rape Carroll accused Trump of perpetrating.
In addition to overturning the verdict, Trump claimed Carroll was “a crazy job.” The former president also reiterated that he had “never met this woman” and claimed that “this is a fake story, a made-up story”.
The jury concluded within hours on Tuesday that Trump was also liable for defamation based on the former president’s denial of Carroll’s allegations in an October 2022 social media post, when he called her claims a “hoax” and a ” scammer”. The jury awarded Carroll nearly $5 million in damages for her battery and libel charges.
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Writer E. Jean Carroll leaves a Manhattan courthouse after a jury finds former President Donald Trump liable for sexually assaulting her in a 1990s Manhattan department store on May 9, 2023 in New York City. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages for her accusations of battery and libel. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
And the verdict could serve as potential or partial justification for more than a dozen women who have filed sexual misconduct allegations against the former president over the years.
Trump, who took to social media after the verdict, charged that “THIS VERDICT IS A SHAME – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF EVER!” And the former president reiterated in an interview with Fox News Digital just after the verdict that he had “absolutely no idea” who Carroll was and added that he will appeal the ruling in the civil case.
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The verdict came nearly six months after Trump was in the White House for a third straight, where polls show he is currently the overwhelming front-runner in the early stages of the Republican presidential nomination race.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on April 27, 2023 in Manchester, New Hampshire. ((Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images))
To date, when it comes to their choice of their party’s 2024 flag bearer, it seems that many Republican voters have ignored the numerous accusations and accusations the former president has faced over the years.
But CNN’s town hall — for a few hundred Republican or GOP voters in the state holding the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nomination calendar — was the first real test of how this week’s jury verdict in the civil process will affect the Republican base.
Most of Trump’s current or likely rivals in the 2024 nomination race declined to blast the former president after the jury’s verdict.
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Among those who did criticize Trump was Republican presidential nominee and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who said in a Fox News Digital interview Wednesday that the verdict that Trump was liable for sexual assault is a “distraction that really hurts the Republican cause.” “. .”
And Hutchinson called Trump’s actions “inappropriate for someone who wants to be president.”
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who like Hutchinson is a vocal Republican critic of Trump, took aim at the former president on Fox News’ “Brian Kilmeade Show.”
“His reaction to me was ridiculous — that he didn’t even know the woman. I mean, you know, how many coincidences are we going to have here with Donald Trump,” Christie, who is likely to launch a second GOP presidential nomination campaign, said.
“I mean he must be the unluckiest SOB in the world. He just has random people he’s never met before who can convince a jury that he sexually assaulted them. I mean this guy. It’s one person after another, one woman after another. The stories just keep piling up,” Christie added.
Trump was asked at City Hall about a number of other issues, including last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent year-long war.
Trump repeated his boast that “when I’m president, I’ll have settled that war in one day.”
When asked if he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war, the former president replied: “I don’t think in terms of winning or losing. I think in terms of settling it, so we stop killing all these people .”
Asked again, he again didn’t answer and instead said “I want everyone to stop dying.”
Trump also declined to say whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a war criminal for his actions in the war with Ukraine.
On gun violence, Trump pledged to protect the Second Amendment and focus on addressing the mental health crisis if elected.
With the US potentially defaulting on its financial obligations as early as June 1 if Congress and the White House fail to agree on a compromise to tackle the debt limit, Trump suggested the country default if President Biden does not agree to expenses of the Republican congress. cuts.
“Well, you might as well do it now, because you’ll do it later, because we have to save this country. Our country is dying. Our country is being destroyed by stupid people, by very stupid people,” Trump said.
At the start of City Hall, Trump reiterated his unsubstantiated claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was due to fraudulent elections.
“Most people understand what happened, that was a rigged election, it was a shame that our country had to go through this,” the former president claimed. And he charged that the 2020 contest was “a terrible election” and stressed that “we must have fair elections in our country”.
But when asked by an independent voter from Concord, New Hampshire, who was in the audience, if he wanted to suspend the “polarizing” talk about voter fraud while running for the White House again, Trump replied “yes.”
Trump was also questioned about the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists and other supporters of the then president who sought to disrupt congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Some of those who took part in the assault on the Capitol chanted “hang Mike Pence.” The then vice president fulfilled his constitutional duty to oversee the certification and temporarily fled for safety along with lawmakers.
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to social conservative voters at a meeting of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition on April 22, 2023 in Clive, Iowa. (Fox news)
When asked if he owed his former running mate an apology, Trump replied, “No, because he did something wrong…he made a mistake.”
And Trump reiterated his claim that Pence had the constitutional authority to return the election results to the states, saying “Mike had a right to do it.”
More than 300 protesters have so far been charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing officers or employees during the attack on the Capitol.
Asked if he would pardon — if elected to the White House again — some of the defendants convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, Trump said: “I tend to pardon many of them … I would say it would be a big part of them.”
Looking ahead to next year’s election, Trump was asked if he would accept the 2024 results if he is the GOP nominee. Trump twice said, “If I think it’s a fair election, I’d be honored.”
Trump took multiple shots during Biden’s town hall. The president wrote in a tweet to raise money for supporters following the closing of City Hall: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, join our campaign.”
Near the end of City Hall, Trump swept Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who will likely jump into the GOP presidential nomination race in the coming weeks. The former president and his allies have repeatedly attacked the popular conservative governor for months.
Trump touted his extended lead over DeSantis in recent Republican presidential primaries, saying the Florida governor “should relax and take it easy and think about the future. Because right now his future doesn’t look very good.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis headlines the New Hampshire GOP annual fundraising gala on April 14, 2023 in Manchester, NH (Fox news)
The trip was Trump’s second trip in two weeks and third overall this year to the crucial early-election presidential state.
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In front of City Hall, the New Hampshire Democratic Party took aim at the former president.
“Donald Trump will tell desperate lies about his record at City Hall tonight, as he does every time he parachutes into our state, but Granite Staters remember how disastrous his presidency was for New Hampshire,” charged former state party chairman Ray Buckley in a statement.” New Hampshire has already rejected Trump’s dangerous agenda twice — and we’re happy to do it again.”
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter from New Hampshire.
