Donald Trump’s prime-time appearance in a live CNN town hall Wednesday covered a lot of legal and political territory, as the ex-president and 2024 candidate toook a chance on reaching an audience beyond those who often see him on more friendly conservative media outlets.
Wednesday’s town hall marked Trump’s first appearance on CNN since 2016. He had branded the network “fake news” and never granted any of its journalists an interview while president. Trump’s campaign said he was appearing on the network to step outside of a GOP comfort zone as he already starts to turn his focus to a potential 2024 general election rematch with Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump’s appearance on CNN comes at a time of jarring dualities for the former president: The Republican is facing a crescendo of legal problems yet seems in a stronger position than ever to become his party’s presidential nominee, and he’s attempting to reach mainstream media viewers even as critics accuse him of playing to more extremist supporters.
Trump’s appearance came a day after a New York jury found him liable for abusing a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her when she spoke about it publicly. Of note, the jury did not find credible her allegations that he'd raped her.
Jurors awarded columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages, and Trump, denying the charges and alleging he was muzzled by the judge, has vowed a speedy appeal.
As he did not participate in the trial except via pretaped pretrial deposition, Wednesday marked the first time he’s had to face a public questioning in the case.
Trump, when asked by moderator Kaitlan Collins about the verdict, said his poll numbers went up and repeated his statements that he didn’t know Carroll.
“I don’t know her. I never met her. I had no idea who she is.” He dismissed a question about Collins about whether it would impact his standing with female voters. Instead, he called it “a fake story” and referred to Carroll as “a wack job.”
Newsmax contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.