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CNN town hall with former President Donald Trump

By Tori B. Powell, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury and Amir Vera, CNN

Updated 1927 GMT (0327 HKT) June 1, 2023

What we covered here

Former President Donald Trump once again refused to concede that he lost the 2020 election and repeated false claims about it being stolen at a CNN town hall where he took questions from New Hampshire GOP primary voters.
Trump also again deflected blame for the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and said that he would pardon many of the rioters who breached the Capitol that day.
Trump also took questions on the economy and policy issues, repeatedly declining to say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if he won a second term. He also suggested Republicans should refuse to raise the debt limit if the White House does not agree to spending cuts. On foreign policy, Trump would not say whether he wants Ukraine or Russia to win the war when asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
Trump has emerged as a frontrunner in the GOP field for president. The town hall came as Trump faces multiple legal challenges, including an indictment in New York over a hush money case and being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil case.

Our live coverage has ended. See CNN’s fact checks of the town hall and read more about the event in the posts below.

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10:37 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Here's what former President Donald Trump had to say about key topics at the New Hampshire town hall

From CNN staff

Former President Donald Trump speaks to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in a CNN Republican Town Hall at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Former President Donald Trump took questions from Republican and undeclared voters in New Hampshire at the town hall moderated by “CNN This Morning” anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night.

Trump remained defiant about his lies regarding the 2020 election, as well as the many investigations into him – making clear that he’s sticking to the script he’s delivered over the past two years on conservative media.

Here is some of what he said on key topics:

Election lies: Trump again refused to acknowledge that he lost the 2020 presidential election several times, and instead reiterated false claims that the election was rigged. CNN’s Collins continuously pushed back and pointed to statements by Trump's own election officials noting the election was conducted fairly. He later only said he would accept the 2024 presidential election results if he believed they were “honest.”
January 6 insurrection: Trump blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi among others, saying they were at fault for the security failures on January 6, 2021. Trump falsely claimed that he called on the National Guard to intervene during the riot and in an extended exchange with Collins about the riot, Trump attempted to repaint his role during the insurrection. He also said he would pardon “a large portion” of rioters.
Mike Pence: Trump said that he does not feel like he owes his former vice president an apology. Pence has said the former president endangered his life during the January 6 insurrection. "No, because he did something wrong. He should've put the votes back to the state legislatures and I think we would've had a different outcome," Trump said, though Pence did not have the authority to reject election results.
E. Jean Carroll: Trump continued to deny knowing the columnist and denied accusations, just a day after a jury found that he was liable for sexually abusing her in a department store. The former president also ridiculed Carroll and said he does not believe the verdict disqualifies him from being president or will have an impact on women voters.
The economy: If reelected, Trump said his solution to inflation would be drilling for more oil in the US. The former president then claimed that under his presidency, the country was energy independent and that the cost of gas went down to record lows. You can read a fact check on those claims here.
The debt ceiling: Trump said the US should default on its debt if the White House does not agree to Republican spending cuts. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently warned that the US could default on its obligations as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn’t address the debt limit. The White House and GOP Republicans are in a standoff over how to resolve the issue.
Gun violence: The former president pledged to protect the Second Amendment if he is back in the White House. He said he would address mental health problems as well as "do numerous things" to address mass shootings, including hiring more security guards for schools and what he called "hardening" entrances to establishments.
Abortion: Trump would not say if he would sign a federal abortion ban if he was reelected or at how many weeks during pregnancy he would support a ban. Trump said he would “make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what's fair for the country.” He argued those in the anti-abortion movement are “in a very good negotiating position right now" because of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The war in Ukraine: Trump said he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Russian President Vladimir Putin and solve the war in Ukraine “in one day, 24 hours.” He would not say if he believed Putin was a war criminal and said the Russian leader "made a mistake” going into Ukraine, arguing he wouldn’t have done so if Trump was president. Trump wouldn’t say whether he wants Ukraine or Russia to win the war.
Classified documents: The former president insisted that he had “every right” to take classified documents with him after he left the White House. He falsely claimed that the documents became declassified when he took them with him.

10:19 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Fact Check: Trump's claims on voter ID

From CNN’s Tara Subramaniam

Former President Donald Trump participates in a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Former President Donald Trump, discussing the upcoming 2024 presidential election, said: “I hope we’re going to have very honest elections. We should have voter ID.”

Facts First: It’s misleading at best for Trump to claim voter ID doesn’t currently exist in US election.

There are several situations in which casting a ballot without showing an ID would be legal, specifically in the 15 states (plus Washington, DC) that rely on other forms of voter verification. In the rest of the states, voters are required to present some form of identification before casting ballots.

It is true that most Democrats have been against stricter voter-ID laws in the past, but on the grounds that these laws could disenfranchise voters who may not have access to necessary identification – not in order to illegally obtain votes.

Republicans have wielded this Democratic position on voter ID laws to paint Democrats as complicit in election fraud despite the fact that voter fraud is exceedingly rare – and that even states that don’t require ID have other methods to prevent fraud, like signature checks.

Watch:

Video: Donald Trump fact check from CNN town hall - CNN Video

9:48 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Fact check: Trump's comments on gas prices and energy independence

From CNN’s Ella Nilsen

Former President Donald Trump speaks to an audience member during a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Former President Donald Trump claimed gas prices are higher under Biden than under his administration, and that Biden ended US energy independence.

Facts First: Trump’s claims about gas prices are misleading. Trump claimed Wednesday that he got gas prices down to $1.87 – and “even lower” – but they increased to $7, $8 or even $9 under Biden. While the price of a gallon of regular gas did briefly fall to $1.87 (and lower) during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the national average for regular gas on Trump’s last day in office, January 20, 2021, was much higher than that – $2.393 per gallon, according to data provided to CNN by the American Automobile Association. On Thursday, the national average for gas was $3.53, per AAA data, not $6, $7 or $8. California, the state with the highest prices as usual, had an average of $4.8, per AAA.

Trump’s claim that Biden shut down American energy is false even if Trump was talking specifically about non-renewable energy. US crude oil production in 2022 was the second-highest on record, behind only production in Trump-era 2019, and production in early 2023 has been near record highs. US production of dry natural gas set a new record in 2022. So did US exports of crude oil and petroleum products.

Biden has also approved some significant fossil fuel projects including the controversial Willow oil drilling project Alaska, and his administration outpaced Trump’s when it came to approving oil and gas drilling permits in Biden’s first two years in office.

9:44 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Fact check: Trump's claims about security on January 6

From CNN’s Zachary Cohen

Former President Donald Trump walks offstage during a CNN Republican Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Former President Donald Trump tried to blame then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the violence on January 6, 2021 – when his own supporters stormed the US Capitol, claiming she was “in charge” of security that day.

Facts First: This is false. The speaker of the House is not in charge of Capitol security. That’s the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the US Capitol Police and approves requests for National Guard assistance.

Trump’s former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller also told lawmakers that he was never given a formal order by Trump to have 10,000 troops ready to be sent to the Capitol on January 6. “There was no direct, there was no order from the president,” Miller said.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent an email saying the National Guard would be present to “protect pro Trump people” in the lead up to the US Capitol insurrection, according to the report released by the January 6 committee.

9:50 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

In pictures: CNN's town hall with Donald Trump

From CNN's Will Lanzoni

Former President Donald Trump took the stage on Wednesday night for a CNN town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Trump once again refused to concede that he lost the 2020 election and repeated his false claims about it being stolen.

See photos from the evening inside the Koonz Theatre in the Dana Center for the Humanities at St. Anselm College:

Former President Donald Trump speaks to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during the town hall. Will Lanzoni/CNN

New Hampshire GOP primary voters listen to the town hall at St. Anselm College. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Trump holds notes of his tweets. The top of the page says, "SUSPENDED TWEETS (Now Restored on Twitter)." Will Lanzoni/CNN

The town hall took place in the Koonz Theatre in the Dana Center for the Humanities at St. Anselm College. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Trump gestures while answering a question. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Trump walks on stage at the start of the town hall. Will Lanzoni/CNN

11:19 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

"Do you want four more years of that?" Biden tweets after CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump

From CNN's Arlette Saenz

President Joe Biden tweeted out a fundraising appeal from his political account in the minutes after the end of CNN's town hall with former President Donald Trump.

9:29 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Fact check: What Trump said about intelligence agents and their impact on the 2020 election

From CNN’s Curt Devine

As part of his argument that the 2020 election was “rigged,” Donald Trump claimed 51 intelligence agents “made a 16-point difference” in the outcome of the election.

Facts First: There is no evidence for this.

Trump appears to have been referring to a letter signed by former intelligence agents weeks before the 2020 election. The letter stated that the release of emails purportedly belonging to then-candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter, which had been generating sensational stories in right-wing media, had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

No proof of Russian involvement in the release of those emails has emerged, and Republicans have argued that the letter helped discredit negative stories about the Biden family just before the election. But there’s also no proof that the letter swayed the outcome of the election.

9:32 p.m. ET, May 10, 2023

Trump justifies comments he made on "Access Hollywood" tape, says he won't take it back

Former President Donald Trump points to an audience member during the CNN Republican Presidential Town Hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. John Nowak/CNN

Former President Donald Trump said that he will not take back the comments he made on the “Access Hollywood” tape about being able to grab women.

The tape came up in Trump’s tape deposition as part of the civil case with writer E. Jean Carroll. A Manhattan federal jury found Tuesday that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the spring of 1996 and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation.

“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 stand by those comments?" CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked.

"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," Trump said. "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," he added.

"You would like me to take that back. I can't take it back because it happens to be true," Trump added.

12:51 a.m. ET, May 11, 2023

Trump says he would accept 2024 election results if he believes "it's an honest election"

Former President Donald Trump said he would accept the 2024 presidential results if he were the Republican nominee if he believes "it's an honest election."

"If I think it's an honest election I would be honored to," Trump said.

Pressed by CNN's Kaitlan Collins if he would accept the results regardless of the outcome, Trump reiterated, "If it's an honest election, correct, I will."

This comes after the former president repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged throughout Wednesday's CNN town hall.