Trump mocks E Jean Carroll, mulls pardons for Capitol rioters in CNN townhall

Former US president Donald Trump has insisted that the 2020 presidential election, which he lost, was rigged and has mocked and labelled a “whack job” E Jean Carroll, the woman he was found by a jury this week to have sexually abused and defamed.

He also suggested on Wednesday the US Congress should default on the country’s debts if Republicans could not secure cuts in spending – a development the Biden administration has argued would trigger widespread economic turmoil across the world.

At a sometime raucous town hall event for Republican and independent voters in New Hampshire, run by broadcaster CNN, Mr Trump said he was inclined to pardon many of those jailed for taking part in the January 6th riot by his supporters at the Capitol in Washington in 2021.

“I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he said.

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[ Jury rules Donald Trump sexually abused E Jean Carroll in New York civil suit ]

The town hall event took place before a live audience who, on occasion, applauded some of his claims and laughed as he mocked the writer E Jean Carroll, who earlier this week was found by a jury to have been sexually abused and defamed by Mr Trump.

Shortly after the town hall, US president Joe Biden said on Twitter: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that?”

Mr Trump sought to blame former Democrat speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi for not doing enough to prevent the violence on January 6th 2021 – even though the speaker is not in charge of security at the Capitol, which is the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board.

He claimed he had offered to provide 10,000 troops for security on January 6th. However, Mr Trump’s former acting defence secretary Chris Miller has given evidence that there was no direct order from the president.

In the 70-minute event Mr Trump repeatedly refused to accept that he had lost the 2020 presidential election – despite no court accepting his claims of fraud.

“When you look at what happened during that election, unless you’re a very stupid person, you see what happened,” Mr Trump said in response to CNN host Kaitlan Collins’s opening question asking him to accept the 2020 results. “That was a rigged election.”

Asked if he would commit to accepting the result of the 2024 election regardless of the outcome, he said he would if it was “honest”.

The town hall in New Hampshire took place a day after a jury in New York found Mr Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Ms Carroll, a magazine columnist, nearly 30 years ago. The jury said he should pay $5 million in compensation.

The former president maintained that his poll numbers had gone up in the time since the jury verdict was announced on Tuesday afternoon.

He lashed out at Ms Carroll and accused her of lying in her account that he had attacked her in a changing room in a New York department store.

“This is a fake story. A made-up story.”

“This is a rigged deal,” he said.

He argued that Ms Carroll was allowed to bring into evidence everything she wanted but that he was not permitted to do the same.

Mr Trump again defended his highly controversial comments recorded on the set of the US TV Access Hollywood programme when he claimed that those who were rich and famous could sexually assault women if they were “a star”.

Asked about the current row over the debt ceiling, Mr Trump appeared to countenance a US default if Democrats did not agree to demands by Republicans for significant spending cuts.

“Well you might as well do it now because you’ll do it later because we have to save this country.”

Mr Trump again maintained he could negotiate an ending of the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he was president. He said Russian leader Vladimir Putin had made a “tremendous mistake” by invading Ukraine.

He argued that Europe should pay more towards the defence of Ukraine.

Mr Trump also refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win.

“I don’t think in terms of winning and losing, I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”

He also would not say whether he considered Mr Putin a war criminal.

“If you say he’s a war criminal it is going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to get this thing stopped.”

The former president also declined to answer directly whether he would sign a federal ban on abortion into law if he were re-elected to the White House.