11 May 2023 , 11:44
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Donald Trump tried to gaslight an audience in to believing his unique version of reality on Wednesday night as he repeatedly lied during a town hall meeting for his upcoming potential presidency run to get him back in the White House..
Last night Trump appeared on stage at a town hall hosted by a CNN, which he has purposefully swerved since 2016, after calling the reputable broadcaster "fake news" and refusing its journalists access throughout his time in office.
As expected, Trump gave long and rambling answers, frequently going off tangent and threw the interviewer off as she tried her best to reign in the incorrect statements he made.
Eventually, it descended into chaos and the pair were embroiled in a heated argument as Trump slapped her with a number of insults.
It comes as he faces several legal issues, including being found guilty of sexual abuse by a Manhattan civil court earlier this week.
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But he still plans to take on President Joe Biden in 2024.
Trump supporters welcome him at Manchester airport in New Hampshire ahead of the CNN town hall (AFP via Getty Images)We've fact-checked the six most bizarre things he said yesterday in Manchester, New Hampshire...
Passing the buck
Claim: Seemingly unwilling to take responsibility for instigating the January 6 riots at the US Capitol building in Washington DC, Trump has doubled down on a number of false claims about his involvement.
Instead, Trump pointed the finger at the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, claiming she was responsible or "in charge" of security at the US Capitol that day.
Facts: A seemingly obvious one, but the US House Speaker has zero involvement in the logistical operations of security personnel. This is a job taken on by the Capitol Police Board, a specialist law enforcement committe which manages the US Capitol Police.
The board also approves requests from across the country when states feel they need the help of the National Guard.
Trump claimed that the US Capitol Riots happened because of Nancy Pelosi's lax security at the site although she has no responsibility for it (AFP via Getty Images)Further evidence points to lies the former president told earlier on, including a big porky about claiming to give a formal order to get 10,000 troops to the Capitol after the insurrection broke out.
He claimed that he'd "suggested and "offered" up to 20,000 National Guard troops for the building, fearing that the "crowd was going to be very large".
But his former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller has testified during a deposition that the claim is nonsense and that there "was not direct order, no order from the president".
And the National Guard soldiers sent there would have attended to "protect pro Trump" people rather than prevent an insurrection, a January 6 committe report released, citing an email from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
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Just a few bad eggs
Claim: During the town hall, Trump claimed that "a couple" of bad eggs "probably got out of control", brushing over the photos and videos that were shared across the world showing 2000 violent rioters storming the Capitol building.
He went on to compare the insurrection to social justice protests that swept the country following the killing of George Floyd.
The truth: Going on arrest records alone, hundreds have been seized in relation to the incident and it's been recorded as the largest law enforcement response in moden history, largely due to horrendous levels of violence carried out against police.
Three-hundred-and-forty-six have been hit with federal charges for assault, resisting officers, as well as another 100 charges with using weapons and causing serious injury.
Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden on January 6, 2021 (AP)At the time of writing, around 60 have pleaded guilty to felony charges.
The FBI continues to investigate another 220 individuals suspected of violent crimes.
Even judges known to have been vocally supportive of the president have shooed his comparison between the January 6 mob and protests in Portland.
While judging a case invovling a Jan 6 rioter, one judge wrote: “Although both Portland and January 6 rioters attacked federal buildings, the Portland defendants primarily attacked at night, meaning that they raged against a largely vacant courthouse. In contrast, the January 6 rioters attacked the Capitol in broad daylight. And many entered it.”
Trump compared it the US Capitol riots to social justice protests that gripped the US during the year prior (MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)And another federal judge in DC, Carl Nichols, added: “The Portland rioters’ conduct, while obviously serious, did not target a proceeding prescribed by the Constitution and established to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Nor did the Portland rioters, unlike those who assailed America’s Capitol in 2021, make it past the buildings’ outer defenses.”
Trump also said he was inclined to pardon “a large portion” of the January 6 defendants if he gets re-elected, and refused to apologise to his former vice-president, Mike Pence, who was targeted by the mob.
“I don’t feel he was in any danger,” he said, adding that it was Pence, not himself, who “did something wrong”.
Election rigging
Claim: Like a broken record, within moments of the start of the debate, the ex-president was repeating his belief that the 2020 election was "rigged".
The truth: It has been repeatedly proven that there was no "vote-rigging" during the 2020 US Presidential election in which Biden earned 306 electoral votes compared to Trump's 232, which won him the keys to the White House.
President Joe Biden won the 2020 election (Patrick Semansky/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)The majority was the same margin that Trump had to beat Hilary Clinton in 2016, which he repeatedly hailed as a "landslide" victory.
Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud was refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department. Many of his campaign’s lawsuits across the country have been thrown out of court.
E. Jean Carroll
Claim: Trump had either been checked out for the past week or was willfully lying when he claimed that a jury that found him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation of the write E Jean Carroll actually did not.
“They said he didn’t rape her, and I didn’t do anything else either,” Trump said.
The truth: A Manhattan federal jury found that Trump had not raped the writer, but that he was guilty of sex abuse and defamation after accusing her of lying about the claims. The proof was sufficient enough that he has been held liable for battery.
E. Jean Carroll arrives at Manhattan federal court on Tuesday (AP)The civil suit centres around an accusation of rape at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s;
According to New York law, the person becomes liable for sexual abuse subjecting someone to sexual contact against their will. Or "any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person for the purpose of gratifying the sexual desire of either party."
Though he escaped with the lesser charge, Carroll defiantly repeated in court that she had been raped.
As Trump's lawyer pounced on her with a barrage of questions, she lost patience and shouted: “I’m telling you: He raped me whether I screamed or not."