Former President Donald Trump’s dismissive comments about being held liable for sexual assault were met with applause and laughter from the live audience at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump sat down with CNN this morning anchor Kaitlan Collins, who asked about a civil jury holding him liable and ordered him to pay $5 million to E. Jean Carroll in a verdict announced Tuesday in a federal courtroom in New York City.
Trump, who did not attend the trial, claimed to Collins that he had no recollection of meeting Carroll in 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower, as she claimed.
At one point, Trump clarified that the jury rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped. “I didn’t do anything else either because I don’t know who she is,” he said, which was one of his lines to make the spectators laugh.
The audience also laughed when Trump said of Carroll, “She’s a crazy job.” He went on to say that he swears on his children that he doesn’t know who she is.
When asked if he thought the verdict would stop women from voting for him, Trump replied, “No, I don’t think so.” He also bragged about his polls.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to CNN for comment on the public’s reaction.
CNN’s town hall featured questions from New Hampshire voters, and anyone who had the microphone identified as either independent or Republican. Many of the speakers were announced to have voted for Trump in the most recent election.
Trump began the event by refusing to backtrack on his claim that President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election was the result of a rigged voting process. As CNN’s town hall emptied, Collins tried again to correct the record of the 2020 presidential results: “The election was not rigged, Mr. President. You can’t keep saying that all night.”
