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Edited by: TJVNews.com

During a contentious CNN town hall Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump  said in front of a  New Hampshire audience that the European Union needs to start paying “a lot more money” to subsidize the war in Ukraine, which he vowed to have “settled in one day” if elected.

Standing ovation for Donald Trump at the CNN Town Hall

pic.twitter.com/vunGANNWe5

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 11, 2023

 Breitbart.com reported that a student from Saint Anselm’s College asked the 45th president if he supports the Biden administration’s posture to continue sending military equipment to Ukraine.

Trump just pulls out receipts to disprove Kaitlin Collins’ claims on the CNN town hall… and the crowd cheers!

This is NOT going the way CNN wanted it to. pic.twitter.com/7byCeFkCHr

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) May 11, 2023

 Trump said: “Here’s the thing — have to say it to start off, no longer matters — if I were president, this would have never happened, and even the Democrats admit that. Putin knew it would have never happened, and his pipeline would have never happened. A lot of things would never have happened … and all those dead people, both Russian and Ukrainian, they wouldn’t be dead today. And all those cities that are blown up and disintegrated right to the ground, that wouldn’t have happened.

President Trump During CNN Town Hall Calls Out The Officer Who Killed Ashli Babbitt

“A person named Ashli Babbitt was killed. She shouldn’t have been killed, and that thug who killed her there was no reason to shoot her.”

“She was a good person. She was a patriot.” pic.twitter.com/LJk5mIG0Hb

— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) May 11, 2023

Now, here’s the problem, we’ve given so far $171 billion. They’ve given — they meaning [the] European Union, which is approximately the same size altogether as our economy — they’ve given about $20 [billion]. So we’re at $170 and they’re at $20, you don’t have to know too much about history … or geography to realize they’re a little bit more affected than we are … so they’ve got to put up a lot more money because they’re taking advantage of us just like every other country did.”

The CNN Townhall audience applauded when President Trump said he’ll pardon most of the January 6th prisoners. That sound you hear is heads exploding at the CNN offices. Harder to lie to people when people can hear the audience. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼pic.twitter.com/sWEFjJWUgx

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 11, 2023

When CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins pressed Trump, asking if he would continue the Biden administration’s practice of supporting Ukraine with money and weapons if elected, Trump said he would meet with Russian President Vladamir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky and “have that war settled in one day — 24 hours,” as was reported by Breitbart.com.

When Collins asked if he thinks Putin is a war criminal, Trump said, “If you say he’s a war criminal, it’s going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to get this thing stopped because if he’s going to be a war criminal where people are going to grab him and execute him, he’s going fight a lot harder than under the other circumstance.”

This CNN town hall event is a stand up comedy show.

CNN looks terrible.pic.twitter.com/yjUZv8s2V4

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 11, 2023

“That’s something to be discussed at a later date. Right now, we want to get that war settled,” he emphasized, Breitbart.com reported.

Trump, returning to the network after years of acrimony, also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, the AP reported.

Former President Trump to Kaitlan Collins:

“You’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya…” pic.twitter.com/6rkLCfbsPQ

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 11, 2023

On other matters, Trump insisted that the results of the 2020 presidential election were rigged and he said he would support the release of a large number of people who participated in the January 6^th demonstration at the US Capitol. The AP reported that more than 670 rioters have been convicted of crimes related to that day.

The former president was cheered on and applauded by an audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters also defended his response on Jan. 6, and lashed out at the Black police officer who shot and killed demonstrator Ashli Babbit, calling him a “thug.” Trump, who is the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination to take on Biden once again, also rejected a suggestion that he apologize to his former vice president, Mike Pence, who was targeted by the demonstrators..

“I don’t feel he was in any danger,” he said. In fact, Trump said.

The former president also waded into the tense negotiations between the Biden White House and Congress over raising the US debt limit, urging Republican legislators not to do so if Democrats don’t agree to spending cuts, as was reported by Breitbart.com.

“I say that the Republicans out there congressmen, senators, if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re gonna have to do a default,” Trump said, before quickly adding that he sees such a scenario as unlikely.

The US government has never intentionally defaulted on its debt, and some economists warn that the effects could be calamitous, the Breitbart report said.

Trump also slammed Biden over his handling of immigration saying that Thursday, when a Covid-era policy lapses, will be a “day of infamy” along the US border with Mexico.

“You’re going to have millions of people pouring into our country,” he said, as was reported by Breitbart while suggesting that he would reinstitute a policy of separating families at the border.

“When you have that policy, people don’t come,” he said. “I know it sounds harsh.”

Trump, during the town hall, also refused to answer a number of specific questions. The AP reported that he refused to say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban, despite repeated pressing. He said only that he would “negotiate” so “people are happy.”

“I’m looking at a solution that’s going to work,” he said.

The primetime forum — the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign and Trump’s first interview appearance on CNN since before he was elected president in 2016 — had drawn suspicion from both sides of the political divide since it was announced, the AP reported.

The stakes were raised considerably Tuesday after jurors in New York found Trump had sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, though they rejected her claim that he raped her nearly three decades ago. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages.

Trump, at Wednesday’s event, called the case “fake news” and insisted he didn’t know Carroll, the AP reported. “She’s a wack job,” he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

Trump has generally not reacted well when pressed onstage about his behavior toward women, most notably during the first Republican presidential debate of 2015, when he sparred with then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly, the AP reported.

While the civil trial verdict carried no criminal penalties, it is just one of a myriad of legal issues facing Trump, who was indicted in New York in March over payments made to women to cover up their allegations of extramarital affairs with him. The AP reported that Trump is also facing investigations in Georgia and Washington over his alleged interference in the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents and potential obstruction of justice.

Trump has long called CNN “fake news” and sparred with Collins. The AP reported that she was once barred from a Rose Garden event after Trump’s team became upset with her shouted questions at an earlier Oval Office availability.

Nonetheless, Trump’s team saw the invitation from CNN as an opportunity to connect with a broader swath of voters, the report said.  The appearance served as another contrast with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a top rival to Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 and is expected to launch his campaign in the coming weeks, the AP reported.

Breitbart reported that Trump sued CNN in October, accusing the network of waging a campaign of “libel and slander” against him and seeking $475 million in punitive damages.

Trump’s campaign has turned to new channels, including popular conservative podcasts and made-for-social-media videos that often rack up hundreds of thousands of views, the AP reported. His team has also been inviting reporters from a variety of outlets to ride aboard his plane and has been arranging unadvertised stops at local restaurants and other venues to show him interacting with supporters, in contrast to the less charismatic DeSantis.

Breitbart.com reported that “Never Back Down”, a political action committee backing DeSantis, a potential rival for the 2024 Republican nomination, called the CNN event “an hour of nonsense that proved Trump is stuck in the past.”

Biden responded to the town hall on Twitter, writing: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, pitch in to our campaign.”