‘Volcano’ of lies...fury over hour long rant by Trump
DONALD Trump has been accused of spewing a “volcano” of lies about the 2020 presi- dential election and his sexual abuse victim.
US news channel CNN faced a firestorm of criticism yesterday for giving the ex-leader more than an hour to air proven falsehoods.
At one point, Trump, who also refused to denounce Vladimir Putin, even labelled the “town hall” Q&A moderator Kaitlan Collins a “nasty person” as she dared to challenge his inaccuracies.
The former president gave a telling insight into what the US can expect in the run-up to next year’s election, in which the billionaire businessman is intending to run.
Disaster
Leading the condemnation were the lawmakers and officers attacked by Trump’s supporters during the Capitol riot in 2021.
Michael Fanone, an ex-Washington DC policeman hurt in the January 6 violence and now a CNN analyst, said: “There’s no way to fact-check this guy in real-time. He’s a volcano of b ******* .
“It’s worse than I could have ever imagined. It’s an absolute disaster.”
Fanone, 42, suffered a heart attack after he was dragged down the Capitol building’s marble stairs, beaten with pipes and poles and tasered in 2021. Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said CNN should be “ashamed”.
She added: “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defences of January 6th and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.
“The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”
Trump doubled down on his false claims the 2020 election was “rigged”.
He suggested the Capitol rioters had had “love in their heart” and called his sexual abuse victim E Jean Carroll a “whack job”.
Wednesday’s TV programme came the day after a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against the writer.
She alleged he attacked her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
But the former president was dismissive of the jury’s verdict and any suggestion it could hurt him in the polls. He said: “This is a fake story. The made-up story. I have no idea who the hell she is.”
He later called the officer who shot dead a rioter a “thug”, vowed to protect gun rights despite the country’s never-ending wave of mass shootings and fibbed about his tax cuts and the failed border wall.
Trump, whose actions leading up to the riot on January 6, 2021, are the subject of two separate criminal investigations, spoke glowingly about the day of violence on Capital Hill, saying: “It was a beautiful day.” He also claimed credit for overturning Roe versus Wade, the legal precedent that provided women in the US with abortion rights. When pressed by Collins, the billionaire would not say whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war currently raging and he repeatedly refused to condemn President Putin. He boasted he could end it in a day, saying: “You need the power of the presidency to do it.”
At one point, Collins, a rising star of CNN, challenged Trump over his taking of classified documents from the White House when he was voted out. Pushing him to answer, he snapped: “You’re a nasty person.”