the drama of it. so we'll see how much he brings to that. >> you sick of the drama? >> i don't mean -- i'm not even going to go there. i am curious about two other thing. how much does he try to hit biden? how much does he try to hit other republicans like desantis? and i'm also curious words have consequences. we saw that on january 6th. i'm very curious to see whether -- and i use the word measured in the broadest sense, but weather he sort of stays away from that kind of language. >> an important night here in the united states. we're watching it very, very closely. and to our viewers thanks very much for joining us. cnn's republican presidential town hall with donald trump starts right now.

good evening and welcome to new hampshire, the first gop primary state. we're live here for cnn's town hall with former president donald trump. i'm kaitlan collins. tonight president trump is here as he embarks on a campaign unlike any other in the history of u.s. presidential elections. he's the first former president in more than a century to seek a return to the white house, and he is currently leading the republican field while also facing multiple criminal investigations and an indictment. just yesterday he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. no questions are off the table, and we agreed to no conditions. we're here to get voters the answers that they deserve. our audience is made up of republicans and undeclared voters who plan to take part in new hampshire's republican primary. they'll get the chance to question the former president directly, these voters and the

issues that they care about the most will help decide if former president trump will get a second chance to take on president joe biden. please welcome the front-runner for the republican nomination, former president donald trump. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> how are you? thank you for being here tonight. president trump, thank you for your time here tonight. we've got a great crowd here in new hampshire, a lot of voters with a lot of questions about what your 2024 term would look like, what another trump term would look like. we'll get to the voters shortly, but your polls show you were dominating the republican race right now, but you're also under active federal investigation for trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

your first term ended with a deadly riot at the capitol, and you still have not publicly acknowledged the 2020 election result. why should americans put you back in the white house? >> because we did fantastically. we got 12 million more votes as you know we had in 2016. i actually say we did far better in that election, got the most anybody's ever gotten as a sitting president of the united states. i think that when you look at that result and when you look at what happened during that election, unless you're a very stupid person, you see what happens. a lot of the people -- a lot of the people in this audience and probably maybe a couple that don't, but most people understand what happened. that was a rigged election, and it's a shame we had to go through it. it's bad for our country all over the world, they looked at it and they saw exactly what everyone else saw. even if you look recently with the 51 intelligence agents that made a difference. if you look at the fbi and

twitter, call it twitter files, it made a big difference. >> mr. trump, back to what you just said there, though, it was not a rigged election. it was not a stolen election. you and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election. it's been nearly 2 1/2 years. can you publicly acknowledge that you did lose the 2020 election? >> let me just go on. if you look at truth the vote, they found millions of votes on camera, on government cameras where they were stuffing ballot boxes. so with all of that 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. our borders are bad, our military is bad. you look at our taxes, what happened to inflation. what happened to inflation it's just destroying our country. we've really become in many ways a third world country, and it's very sad what's happened in this administration, and it's something we'll turn around and day one we're energy

independent. now energy is at a level we've never had to pay before. we were energy independent, we were getting out of afghanistan with strength and with dignity, and instead we got out and looked like fools and probably the most embarrassic moment in the history of our country. >> we have a lot of questions in our country on foreign policy. they debunked those claims about fraudulent ballots. >> who? >> republican officials in georgia and every single state. your own election officials, mr. president. >> you were too afraid to take on the issue, but we have a big problem in this country. we have elections that were horrible. if you look at what happened in pennsylvania, philadelphia, if you look at what happened in detroit, michigan. if you look at what happened in atlanta, millions of votes and all you have to do is take a look at government cameras. you'll see them people going to 28 different voting booths to vote, to put in seven ballots a piece and they're all on camera.

>> mr. president, i have to stop you there because there's no evidence of that. your own election officials testified to that and said republicans in this state did this. we have questions about the claims you're making tonight from voters on this topic. i want to bring in scott dustin from conquered, he works in insurance litigation. he's an undeclared voter. that's what they call independents here in new hampshire as you know. what's your question for the president? >> hi there, president trump. welcome back to new hampshire. >> thank you. >> will you suspend poll rising talk of election talk during your run for president? >> will i suspend what? >> will you suspend polarizing talk of election fraud during your run for president? >> yes, unless i see election fraud. i think i have an obligation to say it, and what we went through a short while ago has put our country in a big problem. i hope to do that. i hope we're going to have very

honest elections. 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. >> so you will suspend talk, to his question about the 2020 campaign trail? >> i guess we're at a point we're getting so close let's just win it again and straighten out our country. [ applause ] >> when you talked about the 2020 election results in the past you once suggested terminating the constitution. do you standby those comments? >> you are able to do -- i'm not talking about terminating the constitution. i'm talking about cherishing the constitution. the constitution says it was supposed to have legal and well-maintained and well-looked at elections, and we didn't have that. i cherish our constitution, but we have to live up to the constitution. we weren't living up to the

constitution. >> i will just say there's no evidence of election fraud. >> you're supposed to say that but i'm glad you say that. that was a horrible election, and unless somebody is very stupid, and i know you very well. you're not stupid at all, but you perhaps are given an agenda or you have an agenda. look, we have to have honest elections in our country. we have open borders. we have -- you look at what's happening, we have elections, we have open borders. look at what's happeningen our southern border. politicalians and millions of people are coming in, they're being released from prisons. they're being released from mental institutions, and we have millions of people pouring into our country, and now they're getting rid of title 42, which i put on, which kept people out that were sick. >> and mr. president, we have a lot of questions about immigration to get to tonight. obviously that's a big topic given what's expected to happen tomorrow, but i want to talk about the influence you have over our voters.

it's very clear you are very influential and you have a lot of impact. i've been to many of your rallies and seen it up close, which raise questions about the influence we saw you had on january 6th and your supporters when they attacked the capitol. do you have any regrets about your actions on january 6th? >> well, you know, january 6th was, again, we go back to it, but january 6th had to do with the fact that hundreds of thousands of people -- and you don't see the pictures very often. a lot of the people here probably were there. january 6th was the largest crowd i've ever spoken to. that was prior to the walkdown to the capitol building. i don't think -- and i've spoken to hundreds of thousands of people. i've never spoken to a crowd as large as this, and that was because they thought the election was rigged. and they were there proud. they were there with love in their heart. that was was an unbelievable and it was a beautiful day. and what i was asked to do -- i wasn't involved in it very much. i was asked to come in and would i make a speech.

i made a speech and i said walk peacefully and patriotically. we can go sentence after sentence after sentence of things i said and things i put out. one of the big problems was that nancy pelosi -- crazy nancy as i affectionately call her. crazy nancy and they were in charge of national security. >> they're not in charge of the national guard. >> well, i offered them national guard. i said we'll give you soliers, we'll give you national guard, whatever you want, and they turned me down. she turned me down in writing. >> but your acting defense secretary chris miller at the time, he says you never gave a formal order to deploy the national guard, but when it came to that day -- >> excuse me, just the opposite. chris miller wrote a book and he's a fantastic guy, and he was ready to go. they turned him down. if you look the mayor of washington, d.c., a lovely lady, she said we don't like the look.

nancy pelosi said, oh, we don't like the look. if they would have had just -- i offered them 10,000 soldiers. i said it could be ten, it could be more, but i offered them specifically 10,000 soldiers. if they would have taken 500 soliers you wouldn't have the problem. they turned it down. and if you look at the inspector general report he says they turned it down. they made a terrible mistake. >> well, chris miller was your acting defense secretary. he says you never gave that order. >> he did not say that. >> he has testified that. >> he did not say that. >> you say you weren't very involved that day. you did tell your supporters to come to washington. you tweeted about it on the speech. when they were breaking into the capitol and smashing windows, why did it take you three hours to tell them to go home? >> i don't believe it did.

[ applause ] so if you look at on january 5th the day before i said please support our capitol police and law enforcement, they are truly are on the side of our country, stay peaceful. stay peaceful. this was the day before, and this was in the form of twitter. now i'll use truth, truth social. i think it's far superior. i hope everybody's on truth. if you look january 6th it said before 2:30 i am asking for everyone at the u.s. capitol to remain peaceful. this is right after as it was ha happening. but what happened is they took it down. i don't know why. i think they took it down because it was so good they didn't like it being up there. and we didn't know until i got it back because now i have 90 million people waiting for me to go back, but now i'm on truth and staying on truth. listen, i'm asking for everyone at the u.s. capitol to remain peaceful. we want no violation, we want no violence. remember we are the party of law

and order. respect the law and our great men and women in blue. thank you. that was at 2:30. that was very early. >> mr. president, i looked at the same time line you did -- >> you didn't report that. you know why because it was taken down. >> when it was clear to you they were not being peaceful, you saw them rushing the capitol, breaking windows, hitting officers with flagpoles, tasing them, beating them up. when it was clear they weren't being peaceful why did you wait three hours to tell them to leave the capitol? they listen to you like no one else. you know that. >> i agree with you. but nancy pelosi and the mayor are in charge. i assume they were able to do their job. they weren't. >> but pelosi is not in charge of capitol security. >> if you remember i made a video right outside the oval office in the rose garden, and i'm very proud of that video. i didn't have a script. i don't need scripts like a certain person -- >> what time the video -- it came out much later after they

had already attacked the capitol. [ applause ] . >> it was a great video and it was a beautiful video. i don't want to read it all, but it said you have to go home now. we have have peace, law and order. we have to respect our great people of law and order. we love our people of law and order. we can't play into the hands of other people. we have to have peace, please go home and i said that. you know what they did, to this day it hasn't been put up, and the reason is it's so good and so conclusive that all of this nonsense and all of the tens of millions of dollars that have been spent are just wiped away with this one -- and they've never put it back up. >> that video you reference there, it wasn't posted until 4:17 p.m. they breached the capitol at 2:00 p.m., mr. president. >> that video was posted. actually a little bit before that. >> right, in that three hours -- >> excuse me, it was posted

after the first one i just read. and that was at 2:00. >> i think the time line is so critical here because going back to your input, isn't that three hours over 140 officers were injured that day. >> and a person named ashley babbitt was killed. >> yes. >> you know what? she was kill and she shouldn't have been killed. and that thug that killed her, there was no reason to shoot her at blank range, cold blank range they shot her, she was a good person. she was a patriot. there was no reason, and he went on television to brag about the fact that he killed her. >> the officer was not bragging about the fact he killed her, but one person who was at the capitol that day is you know your vice president mike pence who says you endangered his life on that day. >> i don't think he was in any danger. >> mr. president, do you feel you open him an apology? >> no, because he did something wrong. he should have put the votes back to the state legislatures and i think we would have had a

different outcome. i really do. >> but he doesn't have the authority to do that as you know. >> what? >> the vice president doesn't have the authority to reject those -- >> let's keep it interesting, right? i like mike pence very much. he's a very fine man. he's a very nice man. he made a mistake. his lawyers said you cannot move. i call him the human conveyer belt. even if the votes -- i talk to his lawyer, even if the votes are absolutely fraudulent, yes, sir, and the democrats played it and the rinos played it and the election was over. the lawyers told me they can't do it, but the lawyers were wrong because right after the election they all met, the rinos and the democrats, and they worked out a plan to make sure that future vice presidents don't do what i said you could do. >> that's not what happened. you're referring to the electoral count act. i've read that. there is no authority. legal experts including republican legal experts say he does not have that authority. >> kaitlan, why did they change

the law then saying you can't do it? >> they didn't change the law. they strengthened the law. >> oh, they strengthened it meaning you could do it. >> that's not what it means. >> thank you. mike had the right to do it. they convinced him he didn't, and it was a horrible thing for our country. if you would have sent those votes back to georgia, pennsylvania, and other states -- wisconsin, which if you look at wisconsin they virtually admitted now that the election was rigged. >> they have not admitted that, mr. president. >> if you sent the votes back to many of those states, they would not come back in the affirmative, and remember what i said, and you just said it pretty much. you admitted what i said was right. >> i did not. >> they said he didn't have the right to do it, and he did have the right to do it, and that's why they changed the law taking that right away. >> i should note your campaign paid for a recount that happened in wisconsin and actually had more votes for president biden by the end of it. >> by the way, so many illegal votes were cast in wisconsin.

and if you look in milwaukee, wisconsin, they had so many illegal votes, they didn't even know what to do with them. >> mr. president, there weren't any frauj lfraudulent votes. he volunteered and voted for you in 2020, what's your question for the president, wayne? >> thank you for coming, mr. president. my question to you is will you pardon the january 6th rioters who were convicted of federal offenses? >> i am inclined to pardon many of them. i can't say for every single one because a couple of them probably they got out of control, but, you know, when you look at antifa, what they've done to portland, and if you look at antifa what they've done to minneapolis and so many other -- so many other places, look at what they did to seattle. and blm -- blm, many people were

killed. these people -- i'm not trying to justify anything, but you have two standards of justice of this country, and what they've done -- and i love that question because what they've done to see many people is nothing -- nothing. and thain what they've done to these people, they've persecuted these people. and yeah, my answer is i am most likely -- if i get in i'll most likely -- i would say it will be a large portion of them, you know? they did a very -- and it'll be very early on. and they're living in hell right now. >> so when it comes to pardons -- >> they're living in hell and their policemen, and their firemen, and their soldiers, and they're carpenters and electricians and they're great people. many of them are great people. >> one of those convicted was a former mese pln and he was convicted of attacking a police officer i should note. does that include the four proud

boys members who were charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy? >> i don't know. i'll have to look at their case but i'll say in washington, d.c. you cannot get a fair trial, you cannot. just like in new york city you can't get a fair trial. >> speaking of new york, i want to ask you about a significant verdict reached yesterday. a manhattan jury found you sexually abused writer e. jean carroll and defamed her. you've denied this. but what do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president? >> there weren't too many of them because my numbers just came out. they went up. i think i'm the only person in history that led a charge like that, and usually you leave office and you say i'm sorry and i'm going back home -- back home to my family and everything. my poll numbers went up and they went up with the other fake charge, too, because what's happening is they're doing this for election interference.

this woman, i don't know her. i never met her. i have no idea who she is. i had a picture taken years ago with her and her husband, nice guy john johnson. he was a newscaster, very nice man. she called him an ape, happens to be african american. called him an ape, the judge wouldn't allow us to put that in. her dog or her cat was named vagina, the judge wouldn't allow to put that in. all these things -- but with her they can put in anything -- >> this was a jury of nine people who found you liable of sexual abuse. do you think that will deter women from voting for you? >> no, i don't think so because i think the whole thing just so you understand -- you ready? i never met this woman. i never saw this woman. this woman said i met her at the front door of bergdoff goodman which i never go into other than for a couple of charities. i met her in the front door. this is like 22, 23 years ago.

i met her in the front door of bergdoff goodman. i was immediately attracted to her and she was immediately attracted to me. and we had this great chemistry. we're walking into a crowded department store, a few minutes later we end up in a room, a dressing room of bergdoff goodman right near the cash register and then she said there were locks on the door. she found one that was open. what kind of a woman meet somebody and brings them up and within minutes you're playing hanky-panky in a dressing room, okay? i don't know if she was married then or not. john johnson, i feel sorry for you, john johnson. >> i know you're recounting what you said -- >> because i was very famous then and i owned the plaza right next door and owned the buildings around it. i'm not going into a dressing room of a crowded department store. then i say if she was being

raped -- and by the way, she said she wasn't raped, okay? >> they found you sexually abused her. >> say what they -- they said he didn't rape her, and i didn't do anything else either. you know what? because i have no idea who she is. i don't know who this woman is. >> but mr. president, can i ask you -- >> which i never do. i have no idea who this woman -- this is a fake story, made up story. we had a horrible clinton appointed judge. he was horrible. he allowed her to put everything in. he allowed us to put nothing in. >> mr. president, you're recounting your version of events right now to the audience. you reference the trial. you did not go to the trial and actually testify. do you wish you had testified? >> no, wouldn't have made a difference. this is rigged deal. this was a -- my lawyer said, sir, you don't have to do it. i actually said -- they said, sir, don't do it, this is fake story and you don't want to give

it credibility. >> one thing you did do is -- >> and i swear and i've never done that, and i swear i have no idea who the hell -- she's a whack job. >> mr. president, you did not testify in person in this trial. there was a taped deposition of you from october, and you defended the comments you made on that "access hollywood" tape about being able to grab women how you want. do you standby those comments? >> i said if you're famous and rich and whatever i said. but i said if you're a star, you are -- and i said women let you. i didn't say you grab. i said women let. you know you didn't use that word, but if you look, women let you. now, they said will you take that back? i said, look, for a million years this is the way it's been. i want to be honest this is the way it's been. i can take it back if you'd like to, but if you're a famous person, if you're a star -- and i'm not referring to myself. i'm saying people that are famous, people that are stars,

people that are rich, people that are powerful, they tend to do pretty well in a lot of different ways, okay? and you would like me to take that back. i can't take it back because it happens to be true. i've said it's been true for 1 million years, approximately 1 million years, maybe a little longer than that. >> so you standby those comments? >> i don't want to lie. here's what you said, a rich and famous person has no advantage over anyone else. you do have an advantage, and i said unfortunately that's the way it is. >> you said unfortunately or fortunately. we have a lot of questions to get to tonight. i want to go back to the audience. she works as an oral surgery assistant. she was a new hampshire delegate for you in 2020. what's your question? >> hi, thank you so much for coming to new hampshire to answer our questions. my question is regarding the economy. over the past two years we have seen the prices for everything skyrocket, from food to gas to utilities and insurance costs

many peoples bills are up several hundred dollars a month including mine. if elected president again what is the first thing you would do to help bring down the cost to make things more affordable? >> drill, baby, drill. [ applause ] we were energy independent. we were soon going to be energy dominant. nobody had ever done what i did. we got oil down to $187. we're energy independent, soon to be energy dominant. we were going to be bigger than russia and saudi arabia put together times 2. we have more liquid gold under our feet than any other nation -- any other nation. and these stupid fools ended it, and energy went from $1.87 and

even lower for a car to 5, $6, $7 and your electricity went through the roof, your heating went through the roof. and it hadn't stopped because people are paying for bacon and eggs and for two and three times what it was just a little while ago. we created the greatest economy in history. a big part of that economy was i got you the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country, bigger than the reagan cuts, bigger than any -- and also -- kaitlan, also as you know we got the biggest regulation and regulatory cuts. this place was rocking, and then we were given a gift from china. and i took in hundreds of billions of dollars of taxes from china, and then i rebuilt the economy again a second time.

but we had prior to covid coming in from china, from wuhan, which i said it came from wuhan and everybody said, no, you're wrong about that. i said it right from day one, so we had the greatest economy in the world, historic. they made energy so high, and energy is all invasive. it lifted everything. if you make donuts, no matter what you did, and we had inflation -- i think more than that we had no inflation, we had the lowest energy prices we've had in decades. this country was rocking and rolling, and by the way we had the most secure border in the mystery of our country. >> more questions on the economy. i want to make sure we get to all of those. the u.s. could be three weeks away from defaulting on its debt, there could be millions of jobs lost and people not getting their social security payments,

it could put the u.s. into a recession. i want to bring in a student, an undeclared voter who did not vote in 2020. marta, what's your question? >> hi, mr. president. my question is what do you think about the united states current debt situation, and how can we move forward? >> such an important question. so we're at $33 trillion, a number no one ever thought possible. when we had our economy rocking and rolling just prior to covid coming in, literally we were making a fortune. and oil, we were going to make so much money from oil, we were going to start paying off debt, but then with covid coming in we had to do other things. we had to keep this country alive because it was so serious br but we have to get the country back. interest rates are through the roof. energy has to come down, it all has to come down and we have to start paying off debt. but when we have a debt limit, and they use that very seriously. schumer came in with nancy pelosi, and they were using,

we'll violate it, we'll do whatever -- they talked a whole lot different than they do right now. if they don't give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default, and i don't believe they're going to do a default because i think the democrats will absolutely cave because you don't want to have that happen, but it's better than what we're doing right now because we're spending money like drunken sailors. >> just to be clear, mr. president, you think the u.s. should default if the white house does not agree to the spending cuts republicans are demanding? >> we might as well do it now than do it later because our country is dying. our country is being destroyed by stupid people, very stupid people. >> you once said using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge could not happen. >> sure, that's when i was president. >> so why is it different now when you're out of office? >> because now i'm not president.

[ applause ] >> the u.s. defaulting would be massively consequential for everyone -- >> you don't know. it's psychological more than anything else. and it could be very bad. it could be maybe nothing. maybe you have have a bad week or a bad day, but, look, you have to cut your costs. we're spending $7 trillion on much of it on nonsense. $7 trillion on nonsense. >> we've got another question from a voter. >> frankly the senate should have never approved it. get all it that money wasted and if they don't do that, they'll have to default. by the way, you're going to default eventually anyway, but it's going to be much messier. i don't think you'll have to default. i think if the republicans hold strong and let's say we want $5 trillion off, i really think the democrats have no choice but to do it. and if i win they're going to be doing the same thing to me in

two years, i guarantee you that. they're going to play a very hardball game. >> bobby has been waiting patiently. he's a member of college republicans. he's an undeclared voter. right now he supported you in 2020. bobby, what's your question for mr. trump? >> hi, thank you for coming. this is a bit of a pivot. i'm worried our state government and federal government are going to act to repress gun rights. under your administration you instructed the department of justice and atf to ban bump stocks. if elected president again how would you act to defend our second amendment rights but restore rights taken from us for example on the atf's ruling by pistol stabilizing bump stock snz. >> nra i went with them and they said it doesn't mean anything. all they do is teach you how to shoot very inaccurately. there's nobody that's protected the second amendment as you know like i have. i've protected it through thick and thin, not easy to do.

but we have a very big mental health problem in this country. and again, it's not the gun that pulls the trigger, it's the person that pulls the trigger. and we have to protect our second amendment. >> mr. president, you dealt with a lot of mass shootings when you were in office. this year there have already been more than 200 mass shootings in 2023. if you are re-elected are there any new gun restrictions you would sign into law? >> i would do numerous things. for instance, schools, we would very much harden -- and also i'm a very firm believer, the teachers. not like the parents but they love the children in many cases almost as much. many of these teachers are ex-soldiers, and 5% of the teachers is more than you could ever have if you're going to hire security guards. but in addition to hiring security guards you have to harden your entrances. you have to make schools safe, and you can make other places safe, but it is a big mental health problem in this country

more than anything else. and remember we have $700 millin guns. many people if they don't have a gun, they're not going to be very safe. it gives them security. now, you need them for entertainment. you need them for hunting, for a lot of different things. but there are people if they didn't have the privilege of having a gun in some form, they -- many of them would not be alive today. you know, there's a certain country that had a very strict policy on guns, very, very strict. >> which country? >> brazil. okay, brazil. a very strict -- and the former president of brazil -- and the killing was incredible. they were walking into people's homes and killing people. they had no protection. said go out and buy guns, people went out and buy guns and the numbers went way down because they had security. if you look at chicago, chicago has the singest toughest gun

policies in the nation. they are so tough you can't breathe, new york, too, and other places also. all those places are the worst and most dangerous places so that's not the answer. >> so no new restrictions you would sign if re-elected president. juli, what's your question for the president? >> thank you, mr. president. i appreciate you answering the question this evening. how do you plan to appeal to women voters in new hampshire who are concerned about the dobbs decision and how states may change their laws? >> it's such a great question, and it was such a great victory. and people are starting to understand it now. you know that they wanted to bring it back to the states, but that was probably the least important part of that victory. getting rid of roe v. wade was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. pro-life had absolutely nothing being stuck in roe v. wade to negotiate with. and now what's happening and i see it all over, deals are being made. deals are going to be made

and -- look, everybody that was precedent tried to get rid of -- >> you mean republicans? >> republicans. for 50 years this has been going on -- actually a couple of democrats, too. but for 50 years this has been going on. i was able to do it and very honored to do it. but by doing it things are happening that are very, very positive. and i happen to believe in the exceptions, the life of the mother, rape, incest like ronald reagan believed in the exceptions. but i happen to believe them. i think it's frankly important to do that, but a lot of people are, you know, against that. a relatively small number, but the way -- i think it's important to say this i consider the other side to be radical. because the other side under roe v. wade and other things, the other side they're radical. because remember the debate with hillary clinton, they said rip the baby out of the womb at the end of the ninth month.

they'll kill the baby in the ninth month. you look at that governor who said the baby will be born and we'll decide whether -- these are the radical people. >> if you get re-elected and back in your office would you sign a federal abortion ban back into law? >> what i would do is negotiate so people are happy. i was so proud of it. we put three great justices on the supreme court. we have almost 300 federal judges on the supreme court. >> so just to be clear, mr. president, you would sign a federal abortion ban into law? >> i said this. i said this, i want to do what's right and we're looking. >> but what's right? >> and now for the first time the people that are pro-life have negotiating capability because you didn't have it before. they could kill the baby in the ninth month or after the baby was born. now they won't be able to do

that. >> but i think this is really important question for you to answer because this is something every republican being asked about would you sign a federal abortion ban into law. >> and many of them are going to give you the same answer. first of all, i am honored to have done what i did, and a lot of people said -- they said in 150 years he's now the most consequential president because he saved so many lives. and i'm honored to have done it. and because of what i've done we now have a great negotiating ability. we have a great negotiating ability, and i think we're going to be able to get something done. >> the question republicans have and some of your allies on capitol hill said they want to introduce legislation. if they send it to your desk, would they sign it? >> some people are at six weeks, three weeks, two weeks. >> president trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for it the country and what's fair for the

country, but the fact i was able to terminate roe v. wade after 50 years of trying -- they worked for 50 years. i've never seen anything like it. they worked -- and i was so honored to have done it. we are in a very good negotiating position right now only because of what i was able to do. and remember this, again, you talk about radicalism. people that will kill a baby in the ninth month or the eighth month or the seventh month or after the baby is born, they're the radicals, not the pro-life. >> i just want to give you one more chance, though, because you did not answer whether or not you'd sign a federal abortion ban or how many weeks into pregnancy you believe an abortion should be banned. >> i've given the answer four times tonight. i'm looking at a solution that's going to work. very complex issue for the country. you have people on both sides of an issue, but we are now in a very strong position. pro-life people are in a strong position to make a deal that's going to be good and going to be

satisfactory for them. if you weren't able to get rid of -- you wouldn't be having a discussion if you weren't able to get rid of roe v. wade which put it in a horrible position, they could kill the baby at any time they wanted to, but we did something nobody thought was do-able, and other republican presidents and others, by the way, they wanted to get it out. they also wanted to bring it back to the state. but bringing it back to the states is a less important issue than the issues we just talked about. >> you did not say yes or no to that. >> it depends what the deal is. lindsey graham he's got an idea and a lot of people have an idea. >> i wonder what your idea is on that. president trump, we've got more questions to come for you tonight. we'll be right back in just a moment.

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welcome back to cnn's republican presidential town hall with former president donald trump. president trump i'd like you to

meet jennifer simmons. she's a stay-at-home mom and a republican and voted for you in 2020. what's your question tonight? >> good evening, mr. president. title 42 is expected to expire tomorrow. our southern border and now our northern border are experiencing record migration. we learned may 2nd the biden administration plans on deploying 1,500 troops to the southern border. do you agree with deploying troop tuesday the border, and how will a trump administration slow down the rate of migrants coming across all our borders? >> sure, a very good question especially since tomorrow is going to be a day of infamy. you're going to have tens of thousands of people pouring into our country. even the judge, the judge overruled them when they wanted to terminate it early, and he said you know you better extend this thing. the judge in texas said i hope you're going to extend this, but this is my policy they're letting terminate because they lost in court and wanted to go earlier. you're going to have millions of people pouring into our country

right now at a level nobody has ever seen before. these people are sick. anybody that wants this to happen to our country, they're destroying our country, and this should not be allowed to happen. they're not going to do a version of title 42 or my title 42, which is tough. if people were sick and have infectious diseases and lots of other problems, we don't want them entering our country. we have enough problems right now. we have problems we've never had in the history of our country. >> mr. president, the reason it's ending is because the health policy, the covid-era pandemic emergency is coming to an end. that's what title 42 was. you put it in place because of covid. when it comes to what your immigration policies would look like if you are re-elected some of your republican members are saying -- >> i built hundreds of miles of wall and i finished it and i said we have to build some more

because there are areas like water going through a dam. there are some areas where a lot of people are coming. you close up one and they come into another. and we started another 100 miles of wall. in fact, i said to my people if we start this and don't finish it, and then we had a rigged election. i'm sorry to say it. >> the election was not rigged, mr. president. you cannot keep saying that all night long. >> they took over and decided not to finish it. it would have taken three weeks. >> i built hundreds of miles of wall. if we didn't have it, hard to believe it could be any worse. they're letting people flow into our country. >> look, a country has to have borders. there's never been anything like -- >> you built 52 miles of new wall when you were in office, mr. president. it wasn't a complete wall. >> but i have to respond to that. can i respond? this is what she does. i built hundreds of miles. some of the wall was up there,

and it would be laying on the ground rusted rotten steel, rusted rotten wood. and what the radical left crazy democrats did if there's a piece of wood laying down they consider that a wall. i built 30 foot walls going 7 feet into the ground. this is the game, they're a party of disinformation. >> it's not a game, mr. president. it's about 52 miles of new wall. >> no, i built new wall. >> 52 miles. >> but hundreds of miles. what i did is i replaced another wall that was laying down that was up and rotting on the ground for 30 years. some of it was steel that you couldn't -- >> mr. president, it was annal about 52 miles of new wall, but moving on another immigration policy you had was the zero-tolerance immigration policy that separated families at the border. if you're re-elected are you ruling out instituting that? >> if a family hears they're going to be separated, they love their family, they don't come.

i know it sounds harsh, but if you remember -- remember they said i was building prisons for children. it turned out that it was obama that was building prisons for the children. >> would you reemploy that if you were elected? >> we have to save our country. >> so it sounds like that's a yes. >> if you say to a family if you come we're going to break you up, they don't come, and we can't afford to have anymore -- look at new york city. look what's happening. they're living in central park in new york city. the city is being swamped. los angeles is being swamped. iowa is being swamped. our whole country is being destroyed. millions of people are coming into our country. and you know what the number is going to be in my opinion, not the 4 million you hear and the 3 million. i think it's going to be 15 million people. and in these people they have no idea where they come from. they come from 129 different countries so far. >> mr. president, just to put a button on that it sounds like

what you're saying you're not ruling out re-implementing that zero-tolerance policy. she's a republican, this will be the first election she has voted in. what's your question? >> hello, mr. trump. thank you for coming. the current administration has made it clear we should continue to provide military equipment to ukraine so that they can defend themselves. do you support this decision, and how would you first of all, thank you very much. that's really nice. and it's an important question, so important. we're giving away so much equipment, don't want have ammunition for ourselves we're giving away so much. have to say it to start off. no longer matters. if i were president this would have never happened. even the democrats admit that. putin knew it would have never happened and his pipeline would have never happened. a lot of things would have never happened. >> which democrats say that, mr. president? >> and all those dead people, both russian and ukrainian, they

wouldn't be dead today and all those cities that are blown up and disintegrated right to the ground, that wouldn't have happened, okay? now, here's the problem. we've given so far $171 billion, they've given, meaning the european union, which is approximately the same size altogether as our economy, they've given about 20. we're at 170, let's say and they're at 20. you don't have to know too much about history or geography to realize they're a little bit more affected than we are. so they've got to put up a lot more money because they're taking advantage of us like every other country did. that's why i ended nafta and replaced it with the usmca. >> i don't know any democrats who said putin wouldn't have invaded if you were president. would you continue to give ukraine money and weapons if you're elected. what's the answer? >> i have a very good relationship with president

zelenskyy. he backed me up with a phony impeachment, impeachment hoax number one when he said the president didn't do anything wrong. >> that's when you asked for an investigation -- >> i was totally exonerated, by the way. >> you were impeached over that. you were impeached over that. let's stay on topic here. the question is what do you give ukraine -- >> i was impeached by a crazy woman named nancy pelosi. >> would you give ukraine weapons? >> let me put it a nicer way. if i'm president, i will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. >> how would you settle that war in one day? >> i'll meet with putin, i'll meet with zelenskyy. they both have weaknesses and both have strengths and within 24 hours that war with be s settled. >> do you want ukraine to win this war? >> i don't think in terms of winning and losing.

i think getting it settled so stop killing all these people. >> mr. president, can i follow up on that? that's an important statement you made. can you say if you want ukraine or russia to win this war? >> i want everybody to stop dying. they're dying. russians and ukrainians. i want them to stop dying. and i'll have that done in 24 hours i'll have it done. you need the power of the presidency to do it. >> but you won't say you want ukraine to win? >> i want europe to put up more money. because they're in for 20 billion, they're in norfor 170 they should equalize. they have plenty of money. i got nato to pay hundreds of millions that they weren't paying under obama and bush and all these other presidents. that's why they're able to help them fight the war because of the money i got. >> let's talk about what's

happening in ukraine. >> i want europe to put up more money. they're laughing at us. they think we're a bunch of jerks. we're spending $170 billion for a faraway land and they're right next door to that land and they're in for 20. i don't think so. >> when you were in office, you said you respected president putin. do you still respect him today in. >> he made a tremendous mistake. he's a smart guy. i remember i said he was smart, she was smart. he said president xi is smart. he's the ruler of 1.5 billion people. he's a smart guy. how dare he say he's smart. of course he's smart. they want you to say he's a stupid person. he's not a stupid person. he's very cunning. >> putin made a mistake. >> what was his mistake. >> his mistake was going in. he would have never gone in if i was president. >> do you believe he is a war criminal in.

>> what? >> do you believe putin is a war criminal? he's responsible for the deaths of thousands of men and women and civilians. >> it's something that should be discussed later. right now -- if you say he's a war criminal, it's going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to make this thing stopped. if he's going to be a war criminal, people are going to grab him and execute him, he's going to fight a lot harder than he's fighting under the other circumstance. that's something to be discussed a at a later day. right now we want to get that war settled. i'm not talking about the money, i'm talking about all the lives -- the number of people being killed in that war is far greater than you hear. when they blow up the city and the buildings come down, hundreds of people are killed. there's more tore setted.

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republican presidential town hall with former president trump. you have a lot more voter questions here in new hampshire to get to. i want to talk about other investigations you're facing. one is the special counsel's investigation into classified documents that were found at mar-a-lago. >> sure. >> why did you take those documents with you when you left the white house? >> i had every right to under the presidential records act. you have the presidential records act. i was there and i took what i took and it gets declassified. biden on the other hand has 1,850 boxes that he had sent to chinatown. i had every right do it. i didn't make a secret of it. the boxes were stationed outside of the white house. >> i got to stop you right there. the presidential records act, which is not well known to a lot of people, it does not say you can take documents with you. it says they are the property of

the federal court. >> you talk, negotiate, you make a deal. >> it does not say you can negotiate. >> it is not criminal. >> there's nothing you can negotiate to take the documents with you. >> can i tell you, just so you understand, the presidential records act is not criminal. i took the documents. i'm allowed to. you know who else took them? obama took them, nixon took them. >> obama did not take documents. >> he didn't? he didn't? take a look. reagan took them. even jimmy carter. even mike pence had some documents and he's a very honorable guy. you know who took them more than anybody? joe biden. he has 1,800 boxes. >> that's not taccurate and you know it. >> they put a rough guy on us. >> they took documents including vice president pence when they realized they had documents they turned them back over. the difference is that you waited to turn yours over and it was a year and a half that

included a subpoena with those documents. >> it included a raid on my house, that's what it included. >> you had gotten a subpoena and they had not been turned over yet. >> they didn't raid biden's house, the one with the corvette where the documents were laying all over the floor. that was fine. you know who happens to be at mar-a-lago? secret service. they're phenomenal. i have secret service. he didn't have secret service. the vice president cannot declassify. he didn't have the rice to declassify. he has documents from when he was a senator. and even democrat senators say i can't believe it. no, i went by the presidential records ability. >> that's not what the presidential record act says. >> and nara red flagged a thing called the constitution of the united states and the bill of rights because they considered them dangerous documents. >> and i should note there is a special counsel investigating your document situation, also president biden's situation. when it comes to your documents, did you ever show those

classified documents to anyone? >> not really. i would have the right to. >> what do you mean not really? >> not that i can think of. let me just tell you, i have the absolute right to do whatever i want with them. i have the right. i was negotiating with nara. you know what nara is? >> the national archives. >> extremely left group of people. >> they're bipartisan. they're not left. >> they didn't raid the house of joe biden, they didn't raid obama. >> biden didn't ignore a subpoena to get the documents back. that's the question that investigators have, i think, is why you held on to those documents when you knew the federal government was seeking them and they had given you a subpoena to return them. >> can i talk? are you ready? can i give mine? >> i would like for you to answer the question. that's why i asked it. >> it's very simple -- you're a nasty person, i'll tell you. >> can you answer why you held on to the documents?

>> i was negotiating and we were talking to nara, that's washington, to bring whatever they want. they can have whatever they want. when we left washington, we had the boxes lined up on the sidewalk outside for everybody -- people are taking pictures of them. everybody knew we were taking those boxes and the gsa, government service, the gsa was the one taking them. they brought them down to mar-a-lago. we were negotiating and all of a sudden they raid our house. when biden has the documents, he won't give back the 1,850 documents. >> it was biden who alerted them they had the documents. the national archives reached out to you to get yours back. why did you not turn them over? >> we were negotiating with them as per -- as per the presidential record act. we were negotiating with nara. >> that's not what the presidential records act says. i've seen it. >> they've got to love our constitution a little bit more. and they shouldn't red flag it. very nice people.

we were negotiating with nara. that's what the presidential records act says. richard nixon, surprisingly, had problems. he had a lot of problems dealing with nara. they ended up passing up legislation called the presidential records act just for this kind of a thing. >> my last question on this -- >> wait, wait, wait. we were talking to them, we would have done it but all of a sudden they raided the house. why hasn't the fbi raided biden? >> it's because they alerted the government they had those documents and had them come and get the documents from his house. my question for you when it comes to documents, do you still have any classified documents in your possession? >> are you ready? >> do you? >> no, no, i have no classified documents. they become automatically declassified when i took them. >> no, they did not declassify them. >> why is it that biden had nine boxes in china town? he gets a lot of money from

china. why aren't people picking that up? why don't they put this guy jack smith and his group of thugs and why don't they put him in charge of that? >> i need to stop you there. there's no evidence of what you said there. you're referring to an office he had after leaving the vice presidency. he had a temporary office. i want to ask you about another investigation. >> you don't know the subject. >> i do know the subject and i do know the facts, mr. president. i want to move to another investigation, which is the one that's happening in georgia where they are investigating your efforts to overturn the election results in the state of georgia. >> i did nothing wrong. it was a perfect phone call. >> at the center of that is that call you had -- >> perfect call. >> given the fact there are indictments expected to come in that case this summer, is that a call you would make again today in. >> yeah, i called questioning the election. i thought it was a rigged election. i thought it had a lot of

problems. i guess every secretary of state -- there were like seven lawyers on the call, we're having a call, a normal call. nobody said, oh, gee, he shouldn't have said that. if this call was bad, i questioned the election. >> you asked him to find votes. >> we heard the audiotape. there's an audio saying find me 11,000 votes. >> the election was rigged. why didn't him and his lawyers hang up? how dare you say that? >> they were clearly concerned enough they recorded the call and i should note -- >> this was a call that was made to question the results of election and we have -- and when we can't make a call to question election results, then this country ought to just forget about it. >> you weren't just questioning the election results. you were asking them to find votes. there is no evidence of fraud, there is no rigged election in the state of georgia. i want to get back to the

audience. those are false claims you're making about georgia. a voter is here. jordan, what is your question tonight? >> i'm 26, i'm a veteran, i help manage a private aviation country. >> want a job? >> i'd love one, yeah. >> i'm looking for somebody very good. >> i'm not for government interference in private business but i've seen republicans going after desantis about disney. what would you do as president to protect us from government interference. >> i'm the one that wants to protect you. all of these fake investigations about me are about election interference. they think because i'm leading biden by 11 points, 5 points, i'm leading desanctimonious by a lot. he ought to relax and think about the future. right now his future is not looking so good. i will tell you this, we are really putting it to biden but he's putting it to himself

because the economy stinks, inflation is horrible and the border is a disaster. and, by the way, the way he got out of afghanistan was the single most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. >> mr. president, i have one more question here for you tonight. while we're in front of the voters here in new hampshire, this is a fundamental question for you. you are running in the 2024 race. if you are the republican nominee and you were in that 2024 race, will you commit tonight to accepting the results of the 2024 election? >> if i think it's an honest election, absolutely i would. >> will you commit to accepting the results regardless of the outcome? >> if i think it's an honest election, i would be honored to. right now we are so far ahead of both democrat and republican. if i don't win, this country's going to be in big trouble. it's so sad to see what's happening. >> but no commitment on accepting the results regardless of the outcome. >> if it's an honest election. >> so not committing to

accepting the 2024 election results. i want to thank you for coming here tonight. this is an important conversation with voters to hear and to have. thank you to our audience and our host, st. anslem college. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you very much, katie. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i like you guys. we love new hampshire! thank you. good luck. good luck, woody. >> a look at st. anslem college in new hampshire. t

>> it was a good night. mr. trump's first lie was told, it was a rigged election. the falsehoods kept coming about the insurrection, about pence's ability to overturn the election, about covid and the economy and long. he called a black law enforcement officer a thug. he said people here in washington, d.c., in chinatown don't speak english, attacked cai kaitlin a nasty woman. he made fun of e. jean carroll's sexual assault and many in the audience laughed. >> and applauded. >> the former president making his first appearance, he took questions from democrats and republicans and the primary took place today after a manhattan

jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming e. jean carroll. >> let me start with you, dana. we don't have enough time to fact check every lie he told, but he started off with the election one and, boy, he really just never let that bone go. >> and it's pretty clear the evidence is now out there that he is going to continue to tell that lie, not just to the audience where he has an echo chamber, conservative media, but unbiased straight down the middle media. the people that he's trying to get beyond his base now saw and heard that this is something that he will not let go of, the 2020 election.

lies. and caitlin pushed him on the fact that the evidence does not support what he said, on the fact that many of his own former attorney, former aides have not said that and he's not letting it go. that was something that was very much on display for the entire country to see. >> being confronted time after time with just plain facts about the fact that his campaign asked for rekoucounts, that they founo election fraud. even going into january 6th, if you are steeped in the conspiracy theories around this stuff, you would probably still need a map to get around what he said tonight. and i think that is an

encapsulation of the problem. it's a problem not just for trump as he tries to not just make it out of a republican primary but according to his campaign, they want to appeal to a broader swath of voters. voters in the middle if they were really listening tonight would have no idea what he was talking about on a number of really important things starting first and foremost with whether or not he thinks the last election was free and fair. this is a person who from the time he was in the presidency up until now is deeply confused about the truth and is lying intentionally to his supporters and plans to do that and i don't see anything that's changed about trump frankly about when he left the white house and today. so his aides can say what they want but trump is trump. he hasn't changed and he continues to do all the of the things he did in the white house and continued do when he left.

>> he praised a bunch of violent criminal for the january 6th insur insurrection, not talking about they were physically attacking law enforcement officers on the capitol. >> and his comments were received with applause and laughter. i think it was easy for him to make these kind of comments. this gives us a preview of the general election possibly, right? i say this not light live because we're still 500 days away but if anyone wants to know what the rest of his election pattern will sound like, it's just this, it's more of this, only now we actually know, for instance, he's been told multiple times and in reports he's commissioned that he lost the election. he's the same, we're different. we all know more and it's really what voters not in that room think about it. >> he is who he is and he is who

he was in the sense within the first minute he told his first lie. he went on throughout the thing. one of the stunning things to see, though, in the sad laughter when he was mocking e. jean carroll from the audience is the hold he has on the republican party. so welcome to the trump paradox. cnn reached out to republican undeclared voters in new hampshire. that is an honest reflection of republican beliefs in new hampshire. he is by far and away the republican front-runner. no one votes for seven months so there's time to see. he has this enormous grip on the republican party. he knows that. he is celebrating it. that's why he mocked ron desantis and the others. there is zero evidence that he wants to change, will think about changing even for strategic reasons even if he didn't believe it. if he could say i'm the faraway front-runner, let me try to move back to the middle, as opposed

to no answer on abortion. do something to try to reach out to the suburban voters who ran from the republican party in 2018 and 2020 and 2022. he knows we live in a 50/50 country. he knows if things go his way given the unsatisfaction with the incumbent, i know won't like this, he has a plausible path to win again. he thinks he can win by doing just that, which is a lot of lies. >> let me ask you a legal matter. e. jean carroll was awarded $5 million from him yesterday. a jury of his peers and he basically provided almost no defense. he didn't show up. his taped deposition was a travesty and he doubled down on

what you get away with, fortunately or unfortunately, if you're a star. he went after her again tonight. he just won -- she just won $3 million for defamation yesterday. he called her a whack job. i don't know if we have some of that sound. let's run it. >> i want to ask you about a significant verdict reached yesterday. i know this is something you want to weigh in on as well. a manhattan jury found you sexually abused the writer e.j. carroll, defamed her. what do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president. >> there's not too many of them because my poll numbers just came out and they went up. i think i'm the only person in history who had a charge like that. usually you leave office and say i'm going back home to my family. my poll numbers went up and they went up with the other fake charge, too because what's happening is they're doing this for election interference.

this woman, i don't know her, i never met her, i have no idea who she is and i swear on my children, which i never do, i have no idea who this woman -- this is a fake story, made up story. we had a horrible clinton-appointed judge, he was horrible. he a loud her to put everything in. he a loud us to put nothing in. >> you're recounting your verg of events here right now audience. you referenced the trial. you did not go to the trial and testify. do you wish you everwent to the trial? >> no. my lawyer said, sir, don't do it, this is a fake story and you don't want to give it credibility. that's why i didn't go. >> one thing you did do in this -- >> and i've never done that and i swear, i have no idea who the hell -- she's a whack job. >> mr. president -- >> she's a whack job.

his lawyer is saying they're going to appeal, even though i don't know what grounds for appeal they have given they didn't mount much of defense and there is such a record of women accusing him of sexual assault and harassment. how does him going on cnn and awarding a million who was awarded $5 million for def nation calling him a whack job? >> before i answer your question, let me just be very clear. what we saw tonight was outrageous, absolutely. i'm a very objective person. the idea that you would have somebody who is vying to be the head of the executive branch say that the jury pools of the united states of america are not fair, that presumptively we must doubt them because of how they may vote in elections, that you would elude to what kind of a woman, that was his phrase would engain in similar behavior, the idea of retrying to litigate in the court of public opinion, what has already been decided in

a court of law, it's a phrase called res ajudicata. courts will look at that we already dealt with this issue, your comment, based on this circumstance. it's up to a judge whether you can bring charges or a lawsuit. it's kind of novel territory in the context of what he's saying tonight. but the idea that he is making that statement, going beyond that today to take credit for the dobbs decision. did we all catch that? he said i did that. i just have to get this in because it was a supreme court of the united states who are nine supreme court members. we know that they are inherently appointed in a political fashion, but for this president to say that he usurped essentially the role of the supreme court doesn't bode well

for the credibility of our courts in this world. i'm sorry to cut you off because as the lawyer watching this, i have to say i would be salivating if i were the attorneys for e. jean carroll, if i were the prosecutors, if i were jack smith, if i were in georgia because every single statement will line up in a column against here are the potential claims. >> jamie gengel, you have so many republican sources all over the country. what are you hearing? >> people are appalled about what they saw tonight. they were appalled by the audience's reaction and as one person said to me, if you have forgotten what he did on january 6th, tonight was a wake-up call. he lied, he undermined democracy, the rule of law, the justice system, he called a capitol hill police officer a thug. we've already talked about e. jean carroll.

i did not get one positive -- my phone blew up over it. people were outraged by it. and i would end with this. everyone who thinks they could be a republican running against him, you just saw tonight what you're up against on a debate stage. >> can i just add one thing on that note. chris christie just sent a tweet out, he's seriously considering running. we haven't talked about what the former president said about ukraine in detail. he said donald trump said he would end the war in 24 hours. he said despite how ridiculous this is, i suspect he would do it by turning over putin to russia. joining us is florida republican congressman and trump

supporter. your thoughts and what you saw. >> in one way my thoughts were summarized by the previous panel. i will say anyone who has been paying attention and expected donald trump to be anything other than what he was tonight really has misread the situation. that is who he is. and, you know, that is the core of the appeal to his base. i said to dave earlier, there's no "r" on his gear shift. he never concedes any error, doing anything wrong. the idea that he was going to show up and say i thought this through, i should have done a few things differently, that might have been good political advice for a general election, that's not who he is. that is who donald trump is. it does underscore one thing and i don't use this term loightly. there are lots of professions

you get to be a sociopath. there's so if you're going to blow through the facts and the truth, there's some advantage to that and that's who he is. >> if you're a voter and you're dreading this rematch between trump and joe biden, we've already seen exactly what donald trump is. he's not bringing some new donald trump 2.0 to the campaign trail. i do think it was notable that he brought a prop in terms of the print-out of tweets and things. he wants to make the case. he talks about biden, that's chaos and then he undercuts his own message by saying he's not

the chaos guy by saying he'd pardon the guys from january 6th. >> he talked about january 6th, those who are in prison saying they are living in hell. unreformed, unrepented, unimproved, rerun donald. if you're watching this trying to figure out what's going to happen to america, you should be very worried. he threw ukraine under the bus, just threw them under the bus. so a vote for this guy is a vote for a putin victory, period point blank. you can't get away from that. he would not say he wouldn't pardon people who had been convicted in u.s. courts of seditious conspiracy. the proud boys, that's an easy no. he wouldn't even give you that.

he called a black police officer a thug. all the dog whistles are there, no reflection, no repentance, no remorse. that's what you're voting for if you vote for this. >> i found it jarring to watch. he refused to call putin a war criminal, he basically elouudedo the inhumane policy at the border and made light of sexual assault and more horrifying, some of the audience members laughed. this is man who is wholly unfit to be president. i hope that was clear to viewers. i would encourage folks any republican running for office or considering running for president wants to secure the border and deal with the economy and they will do that without the chaos and insanity and

throwing our allies under the bus the way donald trump did. >> i'm down here at the lone end of the table for a reason i think. what explains the fact -- maybe jamie gangel's phone has blown up but half the united states still likes this guy. you heard john king say he may be the next president of the united states. he may be the next president of the united states. so i know there's this -- he's a terrible human being, he said all these bad things but a lot of americans listened to what he said and said that's bad but it's better than the current situation or it's bad but i can't take any more of this border -- they're watching what's happening on the border now. they say at least when trump was in it was this, right? i hear what everyone is saying. the president is much better when he's talking about prospective things or his record rather than talking about 2020 and the election and how it was stolen or january 6th. i think he's got a large record

of accomplishments he could have talked about tonight and ran on, which he didn't. i was hoping to hear more of that. everybody was watching out on the cnn network who may be wringing their hands and saying this guy is terrible, they better get ready because he may run for president of the united states. he did make movement on the abortion front. every other candidate said i will support a total ban on abortion at the federal level and former president trump refused to say that. he said i will negotiate something that's best for the most amount of people. it seemed almost like he was going to try to go back to 15 weeks or whatever it was kind of under a lot of states and not a six-week ban like a lot of people are asking for. i did think that he -- listen, he was a lot of the things you're saying but on certain things like on the gun part, he struck a -- i don't want to say

conciliatory zone. and on russia, i don't think he's saying i'm going to turn over ukraine. i think it much more. listen, the invasion needs to be stopped, it was unfettered aggression by vladimir putin but at a certain point we got to figure out what's the end game here for the world? >> do you believe he can do it in 24 hours ? >> i don't know if the president can do it in 24 hours. >> i think everybody knows the president can't do it in 24 hours. >> when the invasion happened, his first reaction was to call it genius. >> you heard him say putin made the biggest mistake invading ukraine. >> you're a supporter of the former president? >> a couple things. first of all, town halls are for the voters, not for the press, not for the person who is the moderator. caitlin spent more time intein interjecting her