Former Donald Trump refused to say he had lost the 2020 presidential election when pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night.
In the opening questioning of the town hall, Collins said Republican election officials disputed Trump’s claims about the election. He sidestepped the pushback, questioning which officials had said as much. Numerous officials, studies and reviews have confirmed that Trump lost the election.
“I think it’s a shame what happened. I think it’s a very sad thing for our country. I think it’s a very sad thing frankly for the world, because if you look at what’s gotten to our country, our country has gone to hell,” Trump said.
In a follow up question, an audience member asked if Trump would “suspend polarizing talk of election fraud” during the 2024 presidential election.
Trump responded by saying, “yes, unless I see election fraud.”
“I hope we’re going to have very honest elections,” he said. “We should have voter I.D., we should have one-day elections, we should have paper ballots instead of these mail-in votes. But the answer is yes, and I hope it’s going to be very straight up, because if it’s going to be straight up we’ll win the election.”
The CNN town hall comes just one day after a federal jury in Manhattan found Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation and awarded former magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages. Trump called the verdict a “total disgrace” and claimed he did not know Carroll. His attorney also said they planned to appeal.
Trump’s team spent weeks negotiating with CNN about the town hall, which carries high stakes for both the candidate and the network. Trump currently sits high atop the Republican primary field while CNN has been lagging in ratings and is facing criticism for hosting Trump. The two have a complicated and adversarial history, with Trump having been a frequent presence on their airwaves during his 2016 campaign before chastising its reporters and anchors while president.
But Trump has once again begun courting mainstream media in his latest presidential run. He met with advisers this week to go over the logistics of the town hall and discuss some of the questions he might face.
The audience at the Wednesday town hall, which took place at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., was made up of Republicans and voters who intend to vote in the Republican primary in the state. Last week, CNN reached out to the New Hampshire GOP, county GOP groups, and other state associations about getting members to send in questions or participate in the town hall.
