GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – Former President Donald Trump called the verdict by a federal jury that he was liable for sexual abuse “a rigged deal” during a prime time town hall of Republican and independent voters Wednesday evening in a crucial early presidential primary state.
The town hall, held at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, came one day after the jury in New York City found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in an upscale Manhattan department store nearly three decades ago, but not liable for the rape Carroll accused Trump of committing.
Along with trashing the verdict, Trump claimed that Carroll was “a wack 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 on Tuesday concluded within a couple of hours that Trump was also liable for defamation based on the former president’s denial of Carroll’s allegations in a social media post from October 2022, when he called her claims a “hoax” and a “con job.” The jury awarded Carroll nearly $5 million in damages for her battery and defamation claims.
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And the verdict may serve as potential or partial vindication for more than a dozen women who over the years have lodged sexual misconduct allegations against the former president.
Trump, taking to social media after the verdict, charged that “THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE — A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” And the former president, in an interview with Fox News Digital just after the verdict, reiterated that he had “absolutely no idea” who Carroll was and added that he’ll appeal the ruling in the civil case.
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The verdict came nearly six months into Trump’s third straight White House run, where public opinion polls indicate he’s currently the overwhelming front-runner in the Republican presidential nomination race.
To date, when it comes to their choice for their party’s 2024 standard-bearer, it appears most Republican voters have discounted the numerous accusations and allegations that the former president has faced over the years.
But the CNN town hall – in front of a couple of hundred Republican or GOP leaning voters in the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – was the first real test of how the jury verdict in the civil trial will impact the Republican case.
Most of Trump’s actual or likely rivals in the 2024 nomination race declined to blast the former president following the jury verdict.
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Among those that did criticize Trump was Republican presidential candidate and former two-term Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who said Wednesday in a Fox News Digital interview that the verdict that Trump was liable for sexual abuse is a “distraction that really hurts the Republican cause.”
And Hutchinson called Trump’s actions “unbecoming of somebody who wants to be president.”
Former two-term New Jersey Gov. 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 response, 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’s likely to launch a second GOP presidential nomination campaign, said.
“I mean, he must be the unluckiest S.O.B in the world. He just has random people who he has never met before, who are able to convince a jury that he sexually abused them. I mean, this guy. It is one person after another, one woman after another. The stories just continue to pile up,” Christie added.
Trump was asked about a number of other issues during the town hall, including Russian’s invasion last year of Ukraine.
Trump repeated his boast that “if I’m president I will have that war settled in one day.”
Asked if he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win the war, the former president answered “I don’t think in terms of winning or losing. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”
Asked again, he once again didn’t answer and instead said, “I want everybody to stop dying.”
Trump also refused to say if Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.
On gun violence, Trump vowed to protect the Second Amendment and concentrate on tackling the mental health crisis if elected.
With the US potentially defaulting on its obligations as soon as June 1 if Congress and the White House don’t agree to a compromise to address the debt limit, Trump suggested the country should default if Biden doesn’t agree to Republican congressional spending 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 the town hall, Trump repeated his unproven claims that his 2020 election loss to President Biden was due to a fraudulent election.
“Most people understand and what happened, that was a rigged election, it was a shame our country had to go through it,” the former president claimed. And he charged that the 2020 contest “was a horrible election” and emphasized that “we have to have honest elections in our country.”
Asked by an independent voter from Concord, New Hampshire who was in the audience if he would suspend “polarizing” talk of election fraud as he runs again for the White House, Trump answered “yes.”
Trump was also asked about the Jan. 6, 2021, deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by right wing extremists and other supporters of the then-president who aimed to disrupt congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Some of those taking part on the assault on the Capitol were chanting “hang Mike Pence.” The then-vice president was performing his constitutional duty of overseeing the certification, and along with lawmakers temporarily fled for safety.
Asked if he owed his former running mate an apology, Trump answered, “No, because he did something wrong… he made a mistake.”
And Trump reiterated his claim that Pence had the constitutional authority to send the election results back to the states, saying “Mike had the right to do it.”
More than 300 protesters have been charged to date with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees during the attack on the Capitol.
Asked if he would pardon — if elected again to the White House — some of Jan. 6 defendants convicted of crimes, Trump said “I am inclined to pardon many of them…I would say it would be a large portion of them.”
Looking ahead to next year’s election, Trump was asked if he’d accept the 2024 results if he’s the GOP nominee, Trump twice said “if I think it’s an honest election I would be honored to.”
Trump took multiple shots during the town hall at Biden, and near the end of the event he also swiped at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s likely to jump into the GOP presidential nomination race in the coming weeks.
Touting his expanded lead over DeSantis in recent Republican presidential primary polling, Trump said the Florida governor “ought to relax and take it easy and think about the future. Because right now his future is not looking so good.”
The trip was Trump’s second trip in two weeks and third overall this year to the crucial early voting presidential primary state.
Ahead of the town hall, the New Hampshire Democratic Party took aim at the former president.
“Donald Trump will spin desperate lies about his record during tonight’s town hall like he does every time he parachutes into our state, but Granite Staters remember how disastrous his presidency was for New Hampshire, longtime state party chair Ray Buckley charged in a statement. “New Hampshire already rejected Trump’s dangerous agenda twice — and we’ll happily do it again.”
