Wednesday night’s CNN town hall with President Trump was cut short by twenty minutes because Trump, assisted by a fervently receptive crowd (chosen by CNN), immediately took over from host Kaitlan Collins and never let go. The town hall was supposed to last from 8 p.m. EDT until 9:30 p.m. at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, but Collins unexpectedly ended it at 9:10 p.m.
The Telegraph’s introduction to a live thread listed the town hall’s scheduled duration as follows:
Good evening. Follow our updates as Donald Trump participates in a ‘town hall’ during which he will face questions from a live audience. The 90-minute event comes one day after a civil jury found the former US President liable for the sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll. Mr Trump reacted to that finding by posting on his Truth Social app that the case was a “witch hunt” and that he had “absolutely no idea who this woman is”. Expect further defensive comments when Mr Trump takes the stage in New Hampshire tonight. The event will be moderated by former chief White House correspondent and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.
CNN cutting the town hall short, as reported by Puck’s Dylan Byers reported, which drew in a lot of comments from viewers who commented on why the network really abruptly ended the show short by a whopping 20 minutes.
“Note: The CNN Town Hall was a 90 minute broadcast, though the network expected the actual event to go as long as 75 minutes. They stopped less than 70 minutes in. In other words, they could have gone longer if they wanted—which is usually what executives do with big ratings draws”
Note: The CNN Town Hall was a 90 minute broadcast, though the network expected the actual event to go as long as 75 minutes. They stopped less than 70 minutes in. In other words, they could have gone longer if they wanted—which is usually what executives do with big ratings draws
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) May 11, 2023
Van Jones to Kaitlin Collins: pic.twitter.com/7YeP9CFIw5
— Big Tom Callahan🇺🇸 (@CallahanAutoCo) May 11, 2023
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
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
WATCH 🚨
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asks President Trump why he had documents at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump drops TRUTH BOMBS on her.
“They didn’t raid Biden’s house! That’s the one with the Corvette and the documents were laying all over the floor. I have Secret Service. He didn’t!” pic.twitter.com/ZfHc5UFqfB
— Alex Sheppard 🇺🇸 (@NotAlexSheppard) May 11, 2023
Joel Pollak of Breitbart saw the crowd was laughing at Collins, “The @CNN audience is laughing at Kaitlin Collins because she keeps trying to squeeze Trump’s answers into her preconceived categories. It’s stupid and, yes, it is funny to laugh at her doing that.”
The @CNN audience is laughing at Kaitlin Collins because she keeps trying to squeeze Trump’s answers into her preconceived categories. It’s stupid and, yes, it is funny to laugh at her doing that. https://t.co/Qz8Gb0sYtE
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) May 11, 2023
The audience is heard and seen audibly laughing at Collins:
I have a headache. Over an hour of this! pic.twitter.com/GU6UL5rYLI
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) May 11, 2023
Going into the night, Collins was so confident no knowing the public humiliation she had coming for her when she was outsmarted live on air by her nemesis. Steve Bannon pointed out the monumental moment that it was the “First Time Ever ‘Mercy Rule’ Invoked…”
First Time Ever ‘Mercy Rule’ Invoked…
@DylanByers pic.twitter.com/EEnfsJawaJ
— Grace Chong 🇺🇸 (@gc22gc) May 11, 2023