Full Interview: Former President Donald Trump on CNN's Kaitlan Collins Live

[0:00] for CNN's Town Hall with former President Donald Trump. I'm Caitlin Collins. Tonight, [0:04] President Trump is here as he embarks on a campaign unlike any other in the history of [0:09] U.S. presidential elections. He's the first former president in more than a century to seek a return [0:14] to the White House, and he is currently leading the Republican field while also facing multiple [0:19] criminal investigations and an indictment. Just yesterday, he was found liable for sexual abuse [0:24] and defamation. No questions are off the table, and we agreed to no conditions. We're here to [0:30] get voters the answers that they deserve. Our audience is made up of Republicans and undeclared [0:34] voters who plan to take part in New Hampshire's Republican primary. They'll get the chance to [0:39] question the former president directly. These voters and the issues that they care about the most [0:44] will help decide if former President Trump will get a second chance to take on President Joe Biden. [0:49] Please welcome the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, former President Donald Trump. [0:53] President Trump, thank you for your time here tonight. We've got a great crowd here in New [1:22] Hampshire, a lot of voters with a lot of questions about what your 2024 term would look like, what [1:29] another Trump term would look like. We'll get to the voters shortly, but your polls show that you [1:33] are dominating the Republican race right now, but you are also under active federal investigation for [1:39] trying to overturn the 2020 election results. Your first term ended with a deadly riot at the Capitol, [1:45] and you still have not publicly acknowledged the 2020 election results. Why should Americans put you back in [1:51] the White House? Because we did fantastically. We got 12 million more votes than we had in, [1:57] as you know, in 2016. I actually say we did far better in that election. Got the most that anybody's [2:04] ever gotten as a senior president of the United States. I think that when you look at that result, [2:10] and when you look at what happened during that election, unless you're a very stupid person, [2:15] you see what happens. A lot of the people, a lot of the people in this audience, and maybe a couple that [2:20] don't, but most people understand what happened. That was a rigged election, and it's a shame that [2:26] we had to go through it. It's very bad for our country. All over the world, they looked at it, [2:30] and they saw exactly what everyone else saw. You look, even if you just look recently, with the 51 [2:35] intelligence agents, that made a 16-point difference. If you look at the FBI, if you look at the FBI and [2:42] Twitter, they call it Twitter files, they had a big difference. If you look at, through the vote, [2:46] Mr. President, back to what you just said there, though, it was not a rigged election. It was not [2:50] a stolen election. You and your supporters lost more than 60 court cases on the election. It's been [2:56] nearly two and a half years. Can you publicly acknowledge that you did lose the 2020 election? [3:01] Let me just go on. If you look at through the vote, they found millions of votes on camera, [3:06] on government cameras, where they were stuffing ballot boxes. So with all of that, [3:11] I think it's a shame that what happened, I think it's a very sad thing for our country. I think it's [3:16] a very sad thing, frankly, for the world, because if you look at what's gone to our country, our country [3:20] has gone to hell. Our borders are bad. Our military has been bad. You look at the taxes. You look at [3:26] inflation. What's happened to inflation? It's just destroying our country. We've really become, [3:31] in many ways, a third world country. And it's very sad what's happened in this administration. And it's [3:36] something that we'll turn around on day one. We were energy independent. Now energy is at a level [3:41] that we've never had to pay before. Nobody can afford to continue to pay what's happening with [3:46] energy. But we were energy independent. We were getting out of Afghanistan with strength and with [3:51] dignity. And instead, we got out. We looked like fools. Probably the most embarrassing moment in the [3:56] history of our country. We have a lot of questions about the economy and foreign policy tonight. But what [4:00] you just said there, Republican officials debunked those claims about fraudulent ballots. We want to give you [4:06] a chance tonight. Who? Who? Republican officials in Georgia and every single state. There is no, [4:11] your own election officials, Mr. President. So we wanted to give you a chance. People were afraid to [4:15] take on the issue. But we have a big problem in this country. We have elections. We wanted to give you [4:19] a chance to acknowledge the results. We have elections that were horrible. If you look at what happened in [4:23] Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. If you look at what happened in Detroit, Michigan. If you look at what [4:28] happened in Atlanta. Millions of votes. And all you have to do is take a look at government cameras. You'll see them. [4:35] People going to 28 different voting booths to vote, to put in seven ballots apiece. [4:39] Mr. President, I have to stop you there because there is no evidence of that. Your own election [4:44] officials testified to that and have said that. Republicans in these states did this. In Georgia, [4:49] there were multiple recounts, including a hand recount. We have questions about the claims that [4:53] you're making tonight from voters on this topic. I want to bring in Scott Dustin from Concord. He works [4:58] in insurance litigation. He's an undeclared voter. That's what they call independence here in New [5:03] Hampshire. As you know, he did vote for you in 2020. Scott, what's your question for the president? [5:08] Hi, President Trump. Welcome back to New Hampshire. Thank you. [5:12] Will you suspend polarizing talk of election fraud during your run for president? [5:17] Will I suspend? Excuse me? What? [5:20] Will you suspend polarizing talk of election fraud during your run for president? [5:26] Yeah, unless I see election fraud. If I see election fraud, I think I have an obligation to say it. [5:30] And, you know, what we went through a short while ago has really put our country in a big problem. [5:36] I hope to do that. I hope we're going to have very honest elections. [5:40] We should have voter ID. We should have one day elections. We should have paper ballots [5:44] instead of these mail in votes. But the answer is yes. And I hope that it's going to be very straight [5:50] up because if it's going to be straight up, we're going to win the election. [5:52] So you will suspend talk to his question about the 2020 election on the campaign trail? [5:57] Well, I guess we're going to just win. We're at a point now. We're getting so close. [6:01] Let's just win it again and straighten out our country. [6:03] One other question on this. You saw the 2020 election results in the past. [6:13] You once suggested terminating the Constitution. Do you stand by those comments? [6:19] No, no. You are able to do certain things. I'm not talking about terminating the Constitution. [6:23] I'm talking about cherishing the Constitution. The Constitution says it was supposed to have [6:29] legal and well maintained and well looked at elections. And we didn't have that. [6:35] I cherish our Constitution, but we have to live up to the Constitution. [6:39] We weren't living up to the Constitution. I was just saying there's no evidence of [6:43] that election fraud. You didn't once tweet. You're supposed to say that, but you know, [6:46] I'm glad you say that. But look, that was a horrible election. That was a horrible election. [6:52] And unless somebody is very stupid, and I know you very well, you're not stupid at all. [6:57] But you perhaps are given an agenda or you have an agenda. Look, we have to have honest elections [7:03] in our country. We have open borders. You look at what's happening. I mean, we have elections. We [7:13] have open borders. Look at what's happening on our southern border. Millions and millions of people [7:18] are coming in. They're being released from prisons. They're being released from mental institutions. [7:23] And we have millions of people pouring into our country. And now they're getting rid of Title 42, [7:29] which I put on, which kept people out that were sick. And Mr. President, we have a lot of questions [7:34] about immigration to get to tonight. Obviously, that's a big topic, especially given what's [7:37] expected to happen tomorrow. But I want to talk about the influence you have over your voters. [7:42] It's very clear that you are very influential over them. You have a lot of impact. I've been to many of your [7:46] rallies and seen it up close, which raised a lot of questions about the influence that we saw that you had on them on [7:51] January 6th and your supporters when they attacked the Capitol. Do you have any regrets about your [7:56] actions on January 6th? Well, you know, January 6th was, again, we go back to it, but January 6th had to [8:03] do with the fact that hundreds of thousands of people, and you don't see the pictures very often. [8:09] A lot of the people here probably were there January 6th. It was the largest crowd I've ever spoken to. [8:14] That was prior to the walk down to the Capitol building. I don't think, and I've spoken to [8:20] hundreds of thousands of people. I've never spoken to a crowd as large as this. And that was because [8:25] they thought the election was rigged. And they were there proud. They were there with love in their [8:31] heart. That was an unbelievable, and it was a beautiful day. And what I was asked to do, I wasn't [8:37] involved in it very much. I was asked to come in, would I make a speech? I made a speech. [8:41] I said, walk peacefully and patriotically, you know, many different things. In fact, [8:46] I brought a list of things. I don't want to bore the audience, but we can go sentence after sentence [8:51] after sentence of things I said and things I put out. One of the big problems was that Nancy Pelosi, [8:57] crazy Nancy, as I affectionately call her, crazy Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington were in [9:03] charge, as you know, of security, and they did not do their job. They're not in charge of the National Guard. [9:08] You're in charge of the National Guard. Well, I offered them National Guard. I said, [9:11] we'll give you soldiers, we'll give you National Guard, we'll give you whatever you want. And they [9:15] turned me down. You're acting defense secretary. And in fact, she turned me down. Excuse me, [9:18] she turned me down in writing. They turned me down. But your acting defense secretary, [9:22] Chris Miller, at the time, he says you never gave a formal order to deploy the National Guard. [9:27] Excuse me, just the opposite. Chris Miller wrote a book, and he's a fantastic guy. And he was ready [9:34] to go. They turned him down. If you look, the mayor of Washington DC, lovely lady, she said, [9:40] we don't want to, we don't like the look. Nancy Pelosi said, oh, we don't like the look. [9:44] If they would have had just, I offered them 10,000 soldiers. I said, it could be 10, it could be more, [9:50] but I offered them specifically 10,000 soldiers. If they would have taken 500 soldiers, [9:56] you wouldn't have had the problem. They turned it down. And if you look at the Inspector General [10:00] report, he says they turned it down. They made a terrible mistake. Well, Chris Miller was your [10:05] acting defense secretary. He says you never gave that order. But back to what happened on that day. [10:08] He did not say that. He has testified that, Mr. President. He did not say that. But you said you [10:12] weren't very involved that day. You did tell your supporters to come to Washington. You tweeted about [10:17] it, about that speech that happened on the rally. Am I allowed to say that? When they went to the [10:20] Capitol and they were breaking into the Capitol, smashing windows, injuring police officers, [10:25] why did you, why did it take you three hours to tell them to go home? [10:29] I don't believe it did. Oh, let me pull it out. I have to pull it out. So if you look at, [10:41] on January 5th, the day before, I said, please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement. [10:48] They are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful. Stay peaceful. This was the day before. [10:54] And this was in the form of Twitter. Now use truth, truth social. I think it's far superior. Okay. [10:59] I hope everybody's on truth. I hope everybody's on truth. If you look, January 6th, this is before [11:06] 2.30. I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. This is right after, as it was [11:13] happening. But what happened is they took it down. I don't know why. I think they took it down because [11:20] it was so good. They didn't like it being up there. I am asking, this is, and we didn't know until I got it [11:26] back, because now I have 90 million people waiting for me to go back. But I'm on truth, [11:30] and I'm staying on truth. Listen, I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. [11:35] No violation. We want no violation. We want no violence. Remember, we are the party of law and [11:42] order. Respect the law and our great men and women in blue. Thank you. That was at 2.30. That was very [11:48] early. Mr. President, I looked at the same timeline that you did. Once it was clear. [11:52] You didn't report that. You know why? Because it was taken down. We did report it. I was reporting [11:55] that thing. It was taken down and it wasn't put back down. But when it was clear to you [11:58] that they were not being peaceful, you saw them rushing the Capitol, breaking windows. They were [12:02] hitting officers with flagpoles, tasing them, beating them up. When it was clear they weren't being [12:08] peaceful, why did you wait three hours to tell them to leave the Capitol? They listen to you like no one [12:14] else. You know that. They do. I agree with that. So why didn't you tell them to go home sooner? Nancy Pelosi and the [12:19] mayor are in charge. I assumed they were able to do their job. They weren't. But Pelosi's not in charge [12:24] of capital security. And if you remember, I made a video right outside the Oval Office in the Rose [12:29] Garden. And I'm very proud of that video. I didn't have a script. I don't need scripts like a certain [12:35] person that's in there right now. What time? The video. It came out much later after they had already [12:39] attacked the Capitol. It was a great video. And it was a beautiful video. And it said, I mean, [12:47] I don't want to read it all. But you have, you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have [12:53] to have law and order. We have to respect our great people of law and order. We love the people of law [12:58] and order. We can't play into the hands of these other people. We have to have peace. Please go home. [13:05] I said that. You know what they did? They took that down. And you know, to this day, [13:10] it hasn't been put up. And the reason is it's so good and so conclusive that all of this nonsense and [13:16] all of that, tens of millions of dollars that have been spent are just wiped away with this one. [13:22] And they've never put it back up. They had another one that they did the same thing. [13:25] But that video that you referenced there, it wasn't posted until 4.17 p.m. [13:28] No, I'll tell you. They breached the Capitol at 2 p.m. [13:31] That video was posted. 4.17 p.m. [13:34] Yeah, before, actually a little bit before that. Right. So that's my question. [13:38] Excuse me. Because in that three hours, [13:39] over 140 officers were injured. Excuse me. It was posted after the first one I just read, [13:42] though. And that was at two o'clock. But I think the reason the timeline is so critical here, [13:46] because going back to your influence, in that three hours, over 140 officers were injured that day. [13:53] And a person named Ashley Babbitt was killed. Yes. [13:56] You know what? She was killed. And she shouldn't have been killed. And that thug that killed her, [14:01] there was no reason to shoot her. At blank range, cold blank range, they shot her. And she was a good [14:09] person. She was a patriot. There was no reason. There was no reason. And he went on television to [14:15] brag about the fact that he killed her. The officer was not bragging about the fact that [14:19] he killed her. But one person who was at the Capitol that day, as you know, was your vice [14:24] president, Mike Pence, who says that you endangered his life on that day. I don't think he was in any [14:29] danger. Mr. President, do you feel that you owe him an apology? No, because he did something wrong. [14:34] He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures. And I think we would have had a [14:38] different outcome. I really do. The authority to do that. What? The vice president does not have [14:46] the authority to reject those election results. Okay, are you ready? Let's have this one out just [14:49] now, because it's interesting. Let's keep it interesting, right? I like Mike Pence very much. [14:54] He's a very fine man. He's a very nice man. He made a mistake. His lawyer said, [14:58] you cannot move. I called him the human conveyor belt. I said, even if the votes you mean, [15:03] I talked to his lawyer, even if the votes are absolutely fraudulent, he can't say, yes, [15:07] sir, he can't say that. And the Democrats played it, and the Rhinos played it. And then the election [15:12] was over. They told him he couldn't do it. And Mike said to me, I can't do it. The lawyers told [15:16] me you can't do it. They can't do it. But the lawyers were wrong, because right after the election, [15:21] they all met the Rhinos and the Democrats, and they worked out a plan to make sure that future [15:26] vice presidents don't do what I said you could do. That's not what happened. You're referring to the [15:31] Electoral Count Act. I've read that. There is no authority. Legal experts, [15:36] including Republican legal experts, say that he does not have that authority, Mr. President, [15:39] but I want to move on. Why did they change the law then, [15:42] saying that you can't do it? They didn't change the law. They strengthened the law, [15:44] because they were worried about presidents exploding. Oh, they strengthened it. Meaning [15:47] you could do it. That's not what it means. Thank you. They strengthened the law. Mike had the right [15:52] to do it. They convinced him he didn't, and it was a horrible thing for our country. If you would have [15:58] sent those votes back to Georgia, Pennsylvania, and other states, Wisconsin, which if you look at [16:04] Wisconsin, they virtually admitted now that the election was rigged. If you would have sent those [16:09] votes back to many of those states, they would not come back in the affirmative. And remember what I [16:16] said, and you just said it pretty much. You admitted what I said was right. They said he didn't have [16:21] the right to do it, and he did have the right to do it, and that's why they changed the law, [16:26] taking that right away. I should note that your campaign paid for a recount that happened in [16:31] Wisconsin and actually had more votes for President Biden by the end of it. But I want to move on to [16:34] Wayne Byer. He's a retired attorney from North Conway. So many illegal votes were cast in Wisconsin, [16:40] and if you look in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they had so many illegal votes, they didn't even know what [16:46] to do with them. You're absolutely wrong about that. Mr. President, there weren't any fraudulent votes [16:50] in Wisconsin. I do want to get to the audience, though. We have questions for you from the audience. [16:54] Wayne Byer is a retired attorney from North Conway. He has previously served in Republican [16:59] administrations. He volunteered for the Republican Party in the 2022 midterms. [17:02] He voted for you in 2020. What's your question for the President, Wayne? [17:06] Thank you for coming, Mr. President. Thank you, Wayne. My question to you is, [17:10] will you pardon the January 6 rioters who were convicted of federal offenses? [17:17] I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can't say for every single one because a couple of them, [17:24] probably they got out of control. But, you know, when you look at Antifa, [17:27] what they've done to Portland, and if you look at Antifa, look at what they've done to Minneapolis, [17:32] and so many other, so many other places. Look at what they did to Seattle. And BLM, BLM. Many [17:41] people were killed. These people, I'm not trying to justify anything, but you have two standards of [17:49] justice in this country. And what they've done, and I love that question, because what they've done to so [17:54] many people is nothing, nothing. And then what they've done to these people, they've persecuted [17:59] these people. And yeah, my answer is, I am most likely, if I get in, I will most likely, I would [18:06] say it will be a large portion of them. You know, they did a very, and it'll be very early on. And [18:15] they're living in hell right now. So when it comes to pardons. They're living in hell. And they're policemen, [18:20] and they're firemen, and they're soldiers, and they're carpenters, and electricians, and they're [18:25] great people. Many of them are just great people. Mr. President, one of the people who was convicted [18:30] was a former policeman, but he was convicted of attacking a police officer, I should note. But [18:34] when you said you are considering pardoning a large portion of those charged with crimes on January 6th, [18:40] does that include the four Proud Boys members who were charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy? [18:45] I don't know. I'd have to look at their case. But I will say, in Washington, D.C., you cannot get [18:50] a fair trial. You cannot. Just like in New York City, you can't get a fair trial either. [18:54] New York, I want to ask about a significant verdict that was reached yesterday. I know this [19:03] is something you want to weigh in on as well. A Manhattan jury found that you sexually abused [19:07] the writer E. Jean Carroll and defamed her. You've denied this. But what do you say to voters who say [19:12] it disqualifies you from being president? Well, there aren't too many of them because my poll numbers just [19:16] came out and they went up. I think I'm the only person in history who had a charge like that. [19:26] And usually you leave office. You say, I'm sorry, but I'm going to back home. I'm back home to my [19:31] family and everything. I'm going to be resigned. My poll numbers went up. And they went up with the [19:35] other fake charge, too, because what's happening is they're doing this for election interference. [19:41] This woman, I don't know her. I never met her. I have no idea who she is. I had a picture taken [19:47] years ago with her and her husband, a nice guy, John Johnson. He was a newscaster, a very nice man. [19:53] She called him an ape. Happens to be African-American. Called him an ape. The judge wouldn't [19:58] allow us to put that in. Her dog or her cat was named Vagina. The judge wouldn't allow to put that [20:05] in. All of these things. But with her, they could put in anything. Access Hollywood. [20:10] This is a jury of nine people who found you liable of sexual abuse. Do you think that that will deter [20:17] women from voting for you? No, I don't think so, because I think the whole thing, [20:21] just so you understand. Ready? I never met this woman. I never saw this woman. This woman said, [20:29] I met her at the front door of Bergdorf Goodman, which I rarely go into, other than for a couple [20:33] of charities. I met her in the front door. She was about 60 years old, and this is like 22, [20:39] 23 years ago. I met her in the front door of Bergdorf Goodman. I was immediately attracted to her, [20:45] and she was immediately attracted to me. And we had this great chemistry. We're walking into a [20:51] crowded department, so we had this great chemistry. And a few minutes later, we end up in a room, [20:57] a dressing room, of Bergdorf Goodman, right near the cash register. And then she found out there are [21:02] locks on the door. She said, I found one that was open. She found one. She learned this at trial. [21:07] She found one that was open. What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up, [21:12] and within minutes, you're playing hanky-panky in a dressing room, okay? I don't know if she was [21:17] married then or not. John Johnson. I feel sorry for you, John Johnson. [21:20] Mr. President, can I answer this? [21:23] No, but think of it. Think of it. [21:24] I know you're recounting what she said, but Mr. President. [21:27] Let me just, if I could, because you asked a question. [21:28] This was a jury, though. [21:29] Just so you understand, if I was walking in at the park, because I was very famous then, [21:33] and I owned the Plaza Hotel right next door, and I owned buildings around it, [21:36] I'm not going into a dressing room of a crowded department store. Then I say, [21:41] if she was being raped, and by the way, they said she wasn't raped, okay? That was her charge. [21:46] She wasn't. They found that you sexually abused her. [21:49] They found, say what, they said he didn't rape her, and I didn't do anything else either, [21:54] you know what, because I have no idea who the hell she is. [21:56] But, Mr. President, can I ask you, given you're recounting your version. [21:59] I don't know who, and I tell you this. [22:01] But, Mr. President, can I ask you, because... [22:01] Are you ready? And I swear on my children, which I never do, [22:05] I have no idea who this woman was. This is a fake story, made-up story. [22:11] We had a horrible Clinton-appointed judge. He was horrible. He allowed her to put everything in. [22:17] He allowed us to put nothing in. [22:19] Mr. President, you're recounting your version of events here right now to the audience. [22:23] You referenced the trial. You did not go to the trial and actually testified. [22:27] Do you wish that you had testified? [22:28] No, it wouldn't have made a difference. This was a rigged deal. This was a... [22:32] My lawyer said, sir, you don't have to do it. I actually said, I think I should. It would be respectful. [22:37] They said, sir, don't do it. This is a fake story, and you don't want to give it credibility. [22:42] That's why I didn't go. [22:43] One thing you... One thing you did do in this... [22:45] And I swear, and I've never done that, and I swear to... [22:50] I have no idea who the hell... She's a whack job. [22:52] Mr. President, you did not testify in person in this trial. [22:56] There was a tape deposition of you from October, and you defended the comments that you made on [23:01] that Excess Hollywood tape about being able to grab women how you want. Do you stand by those comments? [23:07] I said, if you're famous and rich or whatever I said, but I said, if you're a star, [23:13] you are... And I said, women let you. I didn't say, you grab... I said, women let. [23:18] You know, you didn't use that word. But if you look, women let you. [23:22] Now, they said, will you take that back? I said, look, for a million years, [23:27] this is the way it's been. I want to be honest. This is the way it's been. [23:31] I can take it back if you'd like to, but if you're a famous person, if you're a star... [23:36] And I'm not referring to myself. I'm saying people that are famous, people that are stars... [23:40] You were asked in the deposition, do you consider yourself to be a star? [23:43] People that are powerful, they tend to do pretty well in a lot of different ways, okay? [23:49] And you would like me to take that back? I can't take it back because it happens to be true. [23:53] I said, it's been true for one million years, approximately a million years, [23:56] perhaps a little bit longer than that. So you stand by those comments? [23:59] Well, I don't want to lie. Mr. President, we have a lot of questions. [24:01] Here's what she wants me to say. Mr. President, let's get to the audience questions tonight. [24:05] A rich and famous person has no advantage over anyone else. Well, you do have an advantage. [24:08] And I say unfortunately, but that's the way it is. You said fortunately or unfortunately. [24:13] Well, fortunately or unfortunately for her. We have a lot of audience questions to get to tonight. [24:16] I want to go back to the audience. We've got Danielle Rieger. She works as an oral surgery [24:20] assistant. She's a Republican activist from Derry. She was a New Hampshire delegate for you in 2020. [24:25] What's your question? Hi, thank you so much for coming to New Hampshire to answer our questions. [24:31] My question is regarding the economy. Over the past two years, we have seen the prices for everything [24:37] skyrocket. From food to gas to utilities and insurance costs, many people's bills are up several [24:44] hundred dollars a month, including mine. If elected president again, what is the first thing you would [24:50] do to help bring down the cost to make things more affordable? Drill, baby, drill. We were energy [25:04] independent. We were soon going to be energy dominant. And nobody had ever done what I did. We got oil down [25:11] to $1.87. Actually, it fell lower than that in some cases. We had to save the oil companies the price was [25:17] getting so. We were doing incredibly. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country, [25:21] probably the greatest economy in the history of the world. We're energy independent, soon to be [25:26] energy dominant. We were going to be bigger than Russia and Saudi Arabia put together times two. We [25:32] have more liquid gold under our feet than any other nation, any other nation. And these stupid fools ended [25:40] it. And energy went from $1.87 and even lower for gasoline for a car. They went from $1.87 to five, [25:48] six, seven, eight, and even $9. And your electricity bills went through the roof. Your heating bills went [25:54] through the roof. And that's what started inflation. And it hasn't stopped because people are paying now [26:00] for bacon and for eggs and for the two and three times what it was just a little while ago. We created the [26:06] greatest economy in history. A big part of that economy was I got you the biggest tax cuts in the [26:12] history of our country, bigger than the Reagan cuts, bigger than anything. And also, Caitlin, also, [26:20] as you know, we got the biggest regulation and regulatory cuts. This place was rocking. And then [26:27] we were given a gift from China and China paid a big price. And let me tell you something. I took in [26:33] hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes from China. But prior to COVID coming in, and then I rebuilt the [26:39] economy again a second time. But we had prior to COVID coming in as from China, from Wuhan, which I [26:46] said it came from Wuhan. Everybody said, Oh, you're wrong about that. You're wrong. It came from Wuhan. [26:51] I said it right from day one. So we had the greatest economy in the world. Here's the story. They made [26:57] energy so high and energy is all invasive. It is massive as an industry and as a cost. It lifted [27:04] everything if you don't if you made donuts if you made no matter what you did. And we had inflation, [27:11] the likes of which I guess we haven't had said for 52 years. But I think more than that. We had no [27:16] inflation. We had the lowest energy prices we've had in decades. This country was rocking and rolling. [27:23] And by the way, we had the most secure border in the history of our country. [27:26] We had to make sure we get to all of those. Right now could be just three weeks away from [27:34] defaulting on its debt. It could mean millions of jobs lost, people not getting their social [27:39] security payments. People believe it would put the U.S. economy into a recession. On that topic, [27:44] I want to bring in Marta Surveya, a student here at St. Anselm. She is an undeclared voter who did not [27:49] vote in 2020. Marta, what's your question? Hi, Mr. President. Hi, thank you. So my question is, [27:54] what do you think about the United States current debt situation and how can we move forward? [28:00] Such an important question. So we're at $33 trillion, a number that nobody ever thought [28:05] possible. When we had our economy rocking and rolling just prior to COVID coming in, like [28:11] literally, we were making a fortune. And oil, we're going to make so much money from oil, [28:16] we're going to start paying off debt. But then with COVID coming in, we had to do other things. [28:20] We had to keep this country alive because it was so serious. But we have to get the country back. We have [28:26] to lower energy prices. We have to lower interest rates. Interest rates are through the roof. [28:30] Energy has to come down. It all has to come down. And we have to start paying off debt. [28:34] But when we have a debt limit, and they use that very seriously. They came in, Schumer came in with [28:41] Nancy Pelosi, and they were using it. We'll violate it. We'll do whatever. They talked a whole lot [28:46] different than they do right now. I say to the Republicans out there, congressmen, senators, [28:50] if they don't give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default. And I don't believe [28:56] they're going to do a default, because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave, [29:01] because you don't want to have that happen. But it's better than what we're doing right now, [29:06] because we're spending money like drunken sailors. So just to be clear, Mr. President, [29:10] you think the U.S. should default if the White House does not agree to the spending cuts Republicans [29:15] are demanding? Well, you might as well do it now, because you'll do it later, [29:17] because we have to save this country. Our country is dying. Our country is being destroyed by stupid [29:23] people, by very stupid people. You once said that using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge [29:30] just could not happen. You said that when you were in the Oval Office. That's why I was president. [29:33] So why is it different now that you're out of office? Because now I'm not president. [29:45] The U.S. defaulting would be massively consequential for everyone in this room, for all of my opinions. [29:49] You don't know. It's psychological. It's really psychological more than anything else. [29:53] And it could be very bad. It could be maybe nothing. Maybe you have a bad week or a bad day. [29:59] But look, you have to cut your costs. We're spending $7 trillion on, much of it on nonsense. [30:07] $7 trillion on nonsense. And I actually said, get all of that money that was wasted. And frankly, [30:14] the Senate should have never approved it. Get all that money that was wasted. And if they don't get [30:19] rid of that, you'll have to default. Mr. President, we've got another voter here tonight. [30:23] And by the way, you're going to default eventually anyway. But it's going to be much messier. [30:27] I don't think you'll have to default. I think if the Republicans hold strong and they say we want [30:31] five, let's say we want $5 trillion off, I really think the Democrats have no choice but to do it. [30:38] And if I win, they're going to be doing the same thing to me in two years. I guarantee you that. [30:43] Mr. President, we've got another voter here tonight. And they did that before. [30:45] Bobby Petrino has been waiting very patiently. He's a student at St. Anselm. He's a member of [30:49] College Republicans. He's an undeclared voter right now. He's supported you in 2020. Bobby, [30:54] what's your question for President Trump? Hi, thank you for coming. This is a bit of a pivot, [30:58] but with gun violence and mass shootings in the news cycle recently, I'm worried that state [31:02] governments and the federal government are going to act to repress gun rights. Under your administration, [31:07] you instructed the Department of Justice and the ATF to ban bump stocks. If elected president again, [31:13] how would you act not only to defend our Second Amendment rights, but to restore rights that have [31:17] been taken from us, such as, by example, recently the ATF's ruling on the pistol stabilizing braces? [31:22] Yeah, as you know, the bump stocks are actually a very unimportant thing. And NRA, I went with them, [31:27] and they said, it doesn't mean anything. Actually, all they do is teach you how to shoot very [31:31] inaccurately. So we did that. There's been nobody that's protected the Second Amendment, as you know, [31:36] like I have. I protected it through thick and thin, not easy to do. But we have a very big mental [31:42] health problem in this country. And again, it's not the gun that pulls the trigger. It's the person [31:48] that pulls the trigger. And we have to protect our Second Amendment. We have to protect our Second Amendment. [31:53] President, you dealt with a lot of mass shootings when you were in office. This year, [31:57] there have already been more than 200 mass shootings in 2023. If you are reelected, are there any [32:03] new gun restrictions that you would sign into law? I would do numerous things. For instance, [32:08] schools, we would harden, very, very much harden. And I also, I'm a very believer, I believe in [32:13] teachers. I love teachers. I think they're incredible. And they love the children, not quite [32:16] like the parents, but they love the children, in many cases, almost as much. Many of these teachers [32:21] are soldiers, ex-soldiers, ex-policemen. They're people that really understand weapons. And you don't [32:26] need five percent of the teachers would be more than you could ever have if you're going to hire [32:30] security guards. But in addition to that, have security guards. You have to harden your entrances. [32:35] You have to make schools safe. And you can make other places safe. But it is a big mental health [32:41] problem in this country more than anything else. And remember, we have 700 million guns. 700 million. [32:50] Many people, if they don't have a gun, they're not going to be very safe. I mean, if they don't have a [32:54] gun, it gives them security. Now, you need them for entertainment. You need them for hunting. You need [32:58] them for a lot of different things. But there are people that if they didn't have the privilege of [33:04] having a gun in some form, they, many of them would not be alive today. You know, there's a certain [33:10] country that had a very strict policy on guns. Very, very strict. Which country? Brazil. Okay. Brazil. [33:18] Very strict. And the former president of Brazil's, and the killing was incredible. They were walking [33:24] into people's homes and killing people. They had no protection. Said, go out and buy guns. People [33:29] went out and bought guns. And it went way down. The numbers went way down because they had security. [33:34] If you look at Chicago, Chicago has the single toughest gun policies in the nation. They are so [33:40] tough you can't breathe. New York, too, and other places also. All of those places are the worst and [33:46] most dangerous places. So that's not the answer. No new restrictions that you would sign if reelected, [33:52] Mr. President. I want you to meet Julie Miles, a registered nurse from Merrimack. She's a Republican [33:56] who voted for you in 2020. Julie, what's your question for the president? Thank you, Mr. President. [34:00] Thank you. I appreciate you answering this question this evening. How do you plan to appeal to women [34:05] voters in New Hampshire who are concerned about the Dobbs decision and how states may change their laws? [34:10] It's such a great question. And it was such a great victory. And people are starting to understand it [34:16] now. You know that they wanted to bring it back to the states, but that was probably the least [34:21] important part of that victory. Getting rid of Roe v. Wade was an incredible thing for pro-life [34:28] because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with. Pro-life had absolutely nothing being stuck [34:33] in Roe v. Wade to negotiate with. And now what's happening, and I see it all over, [34:38] deals are being made. Deals are going to be made. And look, everybody that was president wanted to get [34:46] rid and tried to get rid of Roe v. Wade. For 50 years. Republicans. For 50 years, this has been going [34:52] on. Actually, a couple of Democrats, too. But for 50 years, this has been going on. I was able to do it, [34:58] and I was very honored to do it. But by doing it, things are happening that are very, very positive. [35:03] And I happen to believe in the exceptions, the life of the mother, rape, incest, like Ronald Reagan [35:10] believed in the exceptions. But I happen to believe that. I think it's frankly important to do that, [35:15] but a lot of people are against that. A relatively small number. But the way I look, I think it's [35:23] very important to say this. I consider the other side to be radical because the other side under [35:28] Roe v. Wade and other things, the other side, they're radical because they will, remember the [35:33] debate with Hillary Clinton, they said rip the baby out of the womb at the end of the ninth month. [35:38] They will kill the baby in the ninth month. If you look at that crazy governor of Virginia from [35:44] the former governor, where he said, no, the baby will be born, and then we'll decide [35:48] essentially whether or not to execute the baby. But, Mr. President, can we talk about what you [35:51] would do if you are reelected? No, but these are the radical people. It's not the pro-life people [35:55] that are radical. But if you are reelected and you're back in the Oval Office and you get legislation [35:58] to your desk, would you sign a federal abortion ban into law? What I'll do is negotiate so that people [36:04] are happy. But the fact that we were able, I was able, I'm so proud of it. [36:08] We put three great justices on the Supreme Court. We have almost 300 federal judges on the Supreme [36:14] Court. So you, just to be clear, just to be clear, Mr. President, you would sign a federal [36:19] abortion ban into law. I said this, I said this, I want to do what's right. And we're looking, [36:25] and we want to do what's right for everybody. But now for the first time, the people that are pro-life [36:30] have negotiating capability, because you didn't have it before, they could kill the baby in the [36:37] ninth month or after the baby was born. Now they won't be able to do that. But I think this is a [36:41] really important question for you to answer, because this is something every Republican, [36:45] including those who are running against you for the nomination, are being asked about is, [36:48] would you sign a federal abortion ban into law? And many of them are going to give you the same [36:52] answer as I, I am, first of all, I am honored to have done what I did. And a lot of people said, [36:59] they said in 150 years, he's now the most consequential president, because he saved so [37:04] many lives. And I'm honored to have done it. And because of what I've done, we now have a great [37:12] negotiating ability. That's what I do in life, I negotiate. We have a great negotiating ability, [37:17] and I think we're going to be able to get something done. But what do you mean negotiating ability? [37:20] Because the question that Republicans have, and some of your allies on Capitol Hill say that they [37:24] want to introduce legislation when it comes to banning abortion, if they send it to your desk, [37:29] would you sign it? Some people are at six weeks, some people are at three weeks, two weeks. [37:33] Where is President Trump? President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for [37:39] the country and what's fair for the country. But the fact that I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade after [37:44] 50 years of trying, they worked for 50 years. I've never seen anything like it. They worked, [37:49] and I was even, I was so honored to have done it. We are in a very good negotiating position right now, [37:55] only because of what I was able to do. And remember this, again, you talk about radicalism. [38:02] People that will kill a baby in the ninth month, or the eighth month, or the seventh month, or after [38:08] the baby is born, they're the radicals, not the pro-life. I just want to give you whether or not you'd [38:17] sign a federal abortion ban, or how many weeks into pregnancy you believe abortion should be banned. [38:23] Yeah, but I've given you the answer probably four times already. I'm looking at a solution that's [38:29] going to work. Very complex issue for the country. You have people on both sides of an issue. But we [38:34] are now in a very strong position. Pro-life people are in a strong position to make a deal that's going [38:40] to be good and going to be satisfactory for them. If you weren't able to get rid of, you wouldn't be [38:44] having a good discussion. If you weren't able to get rid of Roe v. Wade, which put pro-life in a dead [38:50] position, a horrible position, they could kill the baby at any time they wanted to, [38:55] but we did something that nobody thought was doable. And other Republican presidents, and others, [39:00] by the way, they wanted to get it out. They also wanted to bring it back to the states, [39:04] but bringing it back to the states is a less important issue than the issue that we just talked [39:08] about. But that's why it's the question about a federal abortion ban. You did not say yes or no to [39:11] that. You did not say how many weeks. It depends what the deal is. Lindsey Graham's a good [39:14] man. He's got an idea and a lot of other people have an idea. And I look at all the different [39:19] ideas and I'll make the right decision. And a lot of people will be curious what your idea is on that. [39:22] President Trump, we've got more questions to come for you tonight. We'll be right back in just a [39:27] moment. President Trump, I'd like to meet Jennifer Simmons. She is a stay-at-home mom and former town [39:49] selectman from Wyndham. She's Republican and she voted for you in 2020. Jennifer, what's your question [39:54] tonight? Good evening, Mr. President. Thank you. Title 42 is expected to expire tomorrow. Our southern border and [40:00] now our northern border are experiencing record migration. We learned on May 2nd that the Biden [40:05] administration plans on deploying 1,500 troops to the southern border. Do you agree with deploying [40:10] troops to the border? And how will a Trump administration slow down the rate of migrants [40:15] coming across all our borders? Sure. A very fair question, especially since tomorrow is going to be [40:20] a day of infamy. You're going to have tens of thousands of people pouring into our country. Even the [40:27] judge, you know, the judge overruled them when they wanted to terminate it early. And he said, [40:31] you know that you better extend this thing. The judge in Texas said, I hope you're going to extend [40:36] this. But this is my policy that they're letting terminate because they lost in court. They wanted [40:41] to go earlier. You're going to have millions of people pouring into our country right now at a level [40:46] that nobody's ever seen before. These people are sick. Anybody that wants this to happen to our country, [40:52] they're destroying our country. And this should not be allowed to happen. How they're not going to do [40:57] a version of Title 42 or my Title 42, which was tough. If people are sick and have infectious [41:04] diseases and lots of other problems, we don't want them being into our country. We have enough [41:08] problems right now. We have problems like we've never had in the history of our country. Our country [41:15] is being destroyed. The reason it's ending is because the health policy, [41:19] the COVID era pandemic emergency is coming to an end. That's what Title 42 was. You put it in place [41:24] because of COVID. When it comes to big questions about what your immigration policy would look like [41:29] if you are reelected, some of your Republican rivals have criticized you for not fulfilling the [41:33] promises that you made on the campaign trail, like finishing the border wall. So how did voters know [41:38] that you would get those done if you're reelected? I did finish the wall. I built a wall. I built hundreds [41:43] of miles of wall and I finished it. And then I said, we have to build some more because there are areas [41:48] like water going through a dam. There are some areas where a lot of people are coming. You close [41:53] up one and they come into another. And we started another 100 miles of wall. In fact, I said to my [41:59] people, if we start this and don't finish it, and then we had a rigged election. I'm sorry to say it. [42:05] The election was not rigged, Mr. President. You can't keep saying that all night long. [42:09] And so then they took over and they decided not to finish it. It would have taken them three weeks. [42:14] I built hundreds of miles of wall. If we didn't have it, it would be hard to believe it could be [42:19] any worse. They're just letting people flow into our country. Look, a country has to have borders. [42:25] There's never been anything like that is happening to our country right now. [42:28] You built about 52 miles of new wall when you were in office, Mr. President. It wasn't the complete wall. [42:34] One other thing that with immigration- No, but I have to respond to that. [42:37] With your immigration, it was only about 52 miles of new wall. [42:40] Can I respond? This is what she does. I built hundreds of miles. Some of the wall was up there [42:47] and it would be laying on the ground, rusted, rotten steel, rusted, rotten wood. And what the [42:52] radical left crazy Democrats did, if there's a piece of wood laying down, they considered that a wall. [42:58] I built 30-foot walls that go down seven feet into the ground. If there was a little piece of wood [43:03] sitting in the ground, they said, oh, he's not building a wall. We already had a wall, [43:07] because this is the game. They're a party of disinformation. [43:10] It's not a game, Mr. President. It's about 52 miles of new wall. [43:13] What other immigration policy you had when you were in office? [43:15] I built new wall for hundreds of miles. What I did is I replaced other wall that was laying down, [43:22] that was up and rotting in the ground for 30 years. Some of it was steel that you couldn't even see. [43:27] It was only about 52 miles of new wall. But moving on, another immigration policy you had was the [43:32] zero tolerance immigration policy that separated families at the border. If you are reelected, [43:36] are you ruling out instituting that? Well, when you have that policy, people don't come. [43:41] If the family hears that they're going to be separated, they love their family. They don't [43:46] come. So I know it sounds harsh, but if you remember, remember they said I was building prisons for [43:53] children. It turned out that it was Obama that was building the prisons for the children. [43:57] But would you re-implement that if you're reelected? Is that what you're saying? [44:00] We have to save our country, all right? So it sounds like that's a yes. [44:03] No, no. When you say to a family that if you come, we're going to break you up, [44:07] they don't come. And we can't afford to have any more. Look at New York City. Look what's happening. [44:13] They're living in Central Park in New York City. The city is being swamped. Los Angeles is being [44:19] swamped. Iowa is being swamped. Our whole country is being destroyed. Millions of people are coming [44:25] into our country. And you know what the number is going to be? In my opinion, by the end of the year, [44:30] not the four million that you hear and the three million. I think it's going to be 15 million [44:34] people. And in these people, they have no idea where they come from. They come from 129 different [44:39] countries so far. 120, not just the four that we talked about. [44:42] Just to put a button on that, it sounds like what you're saying is that you're not ruling out [44:45] re-implementing that immigration policy. I want to get to another voter. Caitlin Boissonneau is a [44:50] student here at St. Anselm College. She's a Republican. This will be the first election that she has voted in. [44:55] What's your question for the president, Caitlin? Hello, President Trump. Thank you so much for coming. [44:59] Thank you. The current administration has made it clear that we should continue to provide military [45:04] equipment to Ukraine so that they can defend themselves. Do you support this decision? [45:09] And how would you deal with the increasing threat posed by Vladimir Putin? First of all, [45:14] thank you very much. It's really nice. And it's an important question, so important, [45:19] because we're giving away so much equipment. We don't have ammunition for ourselves right now. We [45:23] don't have ammunition for ourselves. We're giving away so much. But here's the thing. I have to say it to [45:27] start off. No longer matters. If I were president, this would have never happened. And even the [45:33] Democrats admit that. Putin knew it would have never happened. And his pipeline would have never [45:38] happened. A lot of things would have never happened. But this would never happen. And all those dead [45:43] people, both Russian and Ukrainian, they wouldn't be dead today. And all those cities that are blown [45:49] up and disintegrated right to the ground, that wouldn't have happened. Okay. Now, here's the [45:54] problem. We've given so far $171 billion. They've given, meaning they, meaning European Union, which [46:02] is approximately the same size altogether as our economy. They've given about 20. So we're at 170, [46:10] let's say, and they're at 20. You don't have to know too much about history to realize, or geography, [46:16] to realize that they're a little bit more affected than we are. Okay. So they've got to put up a lot [46:22] more money because they're taking advantage of us like every other country did. That's why I ended NAFTA [46:28] and replaced it with the USMCA in Mexico. But on this issue, Mr. President, I should know, [46:33] I don't know any Democrats who have said they don't believe Putin would have been invaded if you were [46:36] president. But her question is, would you continue to give Ukraine money and weapons if you're elected? [46:41] What's the answer? I have a very good relationship with President Zelensky, because as you know, [46:47] he backed me up with the phony impeachment, impeachment hoax number one, when he said, [46:53] the president didn't do anything wrong. So I happened to like, so I happened to like, [46:58] yeah, that's right. And it was, I was totally exonerated, by the way, just a waste of time and [47:01] money. You were impeached over that. You were impeached over that. But let's get here, Mr. President, [47:06] because the question is, would you give Ukraine weapons and funding? I was impeached by a crazy woman [47:11] named Nancy Pelosi. But the question here is, would you give Ukraine weapons and funding if [47:15] you were elected? I would sit down. Let me just put it a nicer way. If I'm president, I will have [47:21] that war settled in one day, 24 hours. Would you settle that war in one day? Because I'll meet with [47:28] Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky. They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths. And within [47:34] 24 hours, that war will be settled. It'll be over. It'll be absolutely over. Do you want Ukraine to win this [47:39] war? Uh, I don't think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled [47:44] so we stop killing all these people and breaking them. But one of the things you have to do is you [47:55] have to get the, you have to get Europe. Mr. President, can I just follow up on that? [47:58] Because that's a really important statement that you just made there. Excuse me. Let me just follow up. [48:00] Can you say if you want Ukraine or Russia to win this war? I want everybody to stop dying. [48:07] They're dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I'll have that done. [48:14] I'll have that done in 24 hours. I'll have it done. You need the power of the presidency to do it. [48:18] But you won't say that you want Ukraine to win. You know what I'll say? I'll say this. [48:22] I want Europe to put up more money because they're in for 20 billion. We're in for 170. [48:27] And they should be, and they should equalize. They have plenty of money. They should equalize. [48:32] I got with NATO, when I sat down, I got them to put up hundreds of billions of dollars that they [48:37] weren't paying under Obama and Bush and all of these other presidents. That's why they're able to help [48:43] them fight the war because of the money I got. But I want Europe to put up more money because [48:50] they're laughing at us. They think we're a bunch of jerks. We're spending 170 billion dollars for [48:55] faraway land. And they're right next door to that land. And they're in for 20. I don't think so. [49:01] When it comes to what's happening there, when you were in office, [49:04] you said that you respected President Putin. Do you still respect him today? [49:08] He made a tremendous mistake. He was a smart guy. I remember I said he was smart. She was smart. [49:14] What was his mistake? [49:15] He said President Xi of China, right? He's smart. Okay, 1.5 billion people. He's the ruler of 1.5 [49:22] billion people. I said, yeah, he's a smart guy. How dare he say he's smart? Of course he's smart. [49:28] They want you to say he's a stupid person. Okay, he's not a stupid person. He's very smart. He's very [49:32] cunning. And Putin made a bad mistake, in my opinion. What was his mistake? His mistake was [49:37] going in. He would have never gone in if I was president. We used to talk about it there. [49:42] He's a war criminal. What? Do you believe that Putin is a war criminal? [49:50] He's responsible for the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians. Well, I think this. I think it's [49:53] something that should not be discussed now. It should be discussed later. Because right now, [49:57] we have to get a war. If you say he's a war criminal, it's going to be a lot tougher to make a deal to get [50:01] this thing stopped. Because if he's going to be a war criminal where people are going to go and grab [50:05] him and execute him, he's going to fight a lot harder than he's fighting, you know, under the [50:10] other circumstance. That's something to be discussed at a later date. Right now, we want to get that war [50:16] settled. And I'm not talking about the money either. I'm talking about all the lives that are being, [50:21] the number of people being killed in that war is far greater than you're hearing. When they blow up a [50:26] city and those buildings come pouring down and then they say two people were injured, [50:30] no, no, hundreds and thousands of people are being killed. And we have to get that war settled. [50:35] We have more with former President Trump right after this. We're going to take a quick break and [50:38] then we'll be back with questions from voters right after that. Trump, you, we have a lot more voters [50:43] questions I should note in here in New Hampshire to get to. But I also want to talk about some of the [50:46] other investigations that you're facing. We talked about others at the top, but one of those is the [50:51] special counsel's investigation into classified documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago. Why did you take [50:55] those documents with you when you left the White House? I had every right to under the [50:58] presidential records act. You have the presidential records act. I was there and I took what I took [51:04] and it gets declassified. Biden, on the other hand, he has 1850 boxes. He had boxes sent to Chinatown, [51:11] Chinatown, where they don't speak even English in that Chinatown we're talking about. [51:15] Can I, I got to stop you right there. Nobody talks about him, they talk about us. [51:18] Just so you understand, I had every right to do it. I didn't make a secret of it. You know, [51:23] the boxes were stationed outside of the White House. People were taking pictures of the GSA and the various [51:28] people that were moving. I got to stop you right there, though, [51:29] because the presidential records act, which is not well known to a lot of people. I read it. [51:33] It does not say that you can take documents with you. It says actually that they are the property [51:36] of the federal government. It says you talk, you negotiate, you make a deal. It's not criminal, [51:40] by the way. It does not. It does not say you can negotiate. The presidential records act is not [51:43] criminal. And just so you know. It does not say you can negotiate to take the documents with you. [51:48] Can I tell you? Just so you understand, the presidential records act is not criminal. [51:53] I took the documents I'm allowed to. You know who else took them? Obama took them. Nixon took them. [51:57] Obama did not take documents. Oh, he didn't? The difference here that I'd like to note, [52:04] the National Archives says that President Obama did not take documents. Even Jimmy Carter, [52:06] even Mike Pence had some documents, and he's a very honorable guy. You referenced Pence. You [52:10] referenced Biden. But you know who took them more than anybody is Joe Biden. He has 1,800 boxes, [52:16] and nobody even knows where they are. That's not accurate, Mr. President, and you know that. [52:18] 1,800, and nobody talks about him. Mr. President, that's not accurate. And they put a rough guy on us, [52:23] and in the meantime, they have nobody. I think it's important, Mr. President, [52:26] to actually set the record straight here. They took documents, including Vice President Pence. [52:32] When they realized they had documents, they turned them back over. The difference is that you waited [52:36] to turn yours over, and it was a year and a half effort that included a subpoena with those documents. [52:41] One question about what happened when you had those documents. It included a raid on my house. [52:44] That's what it included. But you had gotten a subpoena, and they had not been turned over yet. [52:49] They didn't raid Biden's house. You know what happened? They put him in the house. That's the [52:52] one with the Corvette, where the documents were laying all over the floor. That was fine. [52:56] And you know who happens to be at Mar-a-Lago? Secret Service. And they're phenomenal. [53:01] I have Secret Service. He didn't have Secret Service. The other thing, the Vice President cannot [53:05] declassify. He didn't have the right to declassify. He has documents from when he was a senator. [53:11] And even Democrat senators say, I can't believe it. No, I went by the Presidential Records Act. [53:17] That's not what the Presidential Records Act says. And we were negotiating with NARA. [53:19] That's not what it says, Mr. President. And NARA has red flagged a thing called the Constitution [53:23] of the United States and the Bill of Rights because they considered them dangerous documents. [53:27] Mr. President, that's not what it says, and I should note that there is a special counsel [53:31] investigating your document situation, also President Biden's document situation. When it comes to your [53:37] documents, did you ever show those classified documents to anyone? [53:39] Mr. President, not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were declassified after. [53:44] Mr. President, not really. [53:44] Mr. President, not that I can think of. Let me just tell you, I have the absolute right to do [53:48] whatever I want with them. I have the right. I was negotiating with NARA. Do you know what NARA is? [53:54] The National Archives. [53:55] Mr. President, extremely, extremely left group of people. [53:57] Mr. President, extremely left. And I was negotiating with them. [54:00] Mr. President, they're not left. They're bipartisan. [54:00] Mr. President, all of a sudden, they raided my house. They didn't raid the house of Joe Biden. [54:05] They didn't raid Obama. [54:07] But Joe Biden didn't ignore a subpoena to get those documents back like you did. [54:10] Mr. President, Joe Biden took 1850 boxes. [54:12] But that's the question that investigators have, I think, is why you held on to those documents [54:17] when you knew the federal government was seeking them and then had given you a subpoena to return [54:21] them. Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk? [54:23] Yeah. What's the answer? [54:24] Mr. President, do you mind? [54:25] Mr. President, do you mind? [54:26] I would like for you to answer the question. [54:27] Mr. President, okay. It's very simple to answer. [54:28] That's why I asked it. [54:29] Mr. President, it's very simple to. You're a nasty person. I'll tell you what. [54:32] Mr. President, answer the documents. [54:37] I was negotiating and we were talking to NARA, that's Washington, to bring whatever [54:42] they want. They can have whatever they want. When we left Washington, we had the boxes lined [54:49] up on the sidewalk outside for everybody. People are taking pictures of them. Everybody knew we [54:53] were taking those boxes. And the GSA, the government service, the GSA was the one taking them. [54:58] They brought them down to Mar-a-Lago. We were negotiating with NARA. All of a sudden, [55:02] they raid our house. When Biden had his documents, he won't give back the 1850 boxes. [55:08] And you're going to find some real gems in there. [55:11] But it was Biden who alerted them that he had the documents. [55:14] The National Archives reached out to you to get your documents back. [55:17] Why did you not turn them over when you got a subpoena asking for you to turn them over? [55:22] We were negotiating with them as per, as per the Presidential Records Act. [55:27] We were negotiating with NARA. [55:29] That's not what the Presidential Records Act says. I've seen it. [55:31] But they've got to love our Constitution a little bit more. [55:34] And they shouldn't red flag it, by the way. Very nice people. [55:37] We were negotiating with NARA. And that's what the Presidential Records Act says. [55:41] Because Richard Nixon, surprisingly, had problems. And he had a lot of problems dealing with NARA. [55:47] And they ended up passing legislation called the Presidential Records Act, just for this [55:52] kind of a thing. We were dealing with them. [55:53] My last question on this subject, Mr. President. [55:55] Excuse me. Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. [55:56] We were talking to them. We would have done it. But all of a sudden, they raided the house. [56:00] Now, why haven't, why hasn't the FBI raided Biden? [56:04] But I just explained to you why. [56:05] Why now? [56:06] It's because he, he's the one, they alerted the government that they had those documents [56:09] and had them come and get the documents from his house. [56:12] No, they didn't take that. [56:13] My question for you, though, when it comes to documents, [56:14] do you still have any classified documents in your possession? [56:17] Are you ready? [56:17] Do you? [56:18] No, no, I don't have anything. [56:20] I have no classified documents. [56:22] And by the way, they become automatically declassified when I took them. [56:26] No, you have to declassify them. [56:28] Let me ask you a question. Why is it that Biden had nine boxes in Chinatown, [56:33] and he gets a lot of money from China? Why is that? [56:36] And why aren't people... [56:38] There is no evidence of that, Mr. President. [56:39] No, you cannot say there is no evidence of that, Mr. President. [56:41] And why don't they put this guy, Jack Smith, and his group of thugs, [56:45] why don't they put him in charge of that? [56:48] I need to stop you right there, because there's no evidence of what you just said there. [56:51] What you're referring to there is an office that he had. [56:53] No, no. That's at the University of Pennsylvania. [56:56] He had a temporary office. [56:58] But I want to ask about another investigation that you're facing. [57:00] You're so wrong. You don't know the subject. [57:01] I do know the subject. [57:02] He had one at the University of Pennsylvania, but he also had nine boxes in Chinatown. [57:06] I want to move on to another investigation that you're facing, [57:07] which is the one that's happening in Georgia, where they are investigating there your efforts [57:11] to overturn the election results in the state of Georgia. [57:14] I did nothing wrong. It was a perfect phone call. [57:16] Let me finish my question. [57:17] At the center of that is that call that you had with the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. [57:22] Yeah, sure. [57:22] Given the fact that there are indictments expected to come in that case this summer, [57:27] is that a call you would make again today? [57:30] Yeah, I called questioning the election. I thought it was a rigged election. [57:33] I thought I'd had a lot of problems. I had every, I guess he's secretary of state, I called. [57:38] Listen to this. There are like seven lawyers in the call, many of them from there. [57:42] We're having a call. We're having a normal call. [57:45] Nobody said, oh, gee, he shouldn't have said that. [57:47] Why? If this call was bad, I questioned the election. [57:50] You asked him to find your votes. [57:52] If this call was bad, I didn't ask him to find anything. [57:54] Let me just tell you. [57:54] We've heard the audio tape, Mr. President. [57:56] If this call was bad, I said, you owe me votes because the election was rigged. [58:01] That election was rigged. And if this call was bad, why didn't him and his lawyers hang up? [58:07] How dare you say that? This was a perfect phone call. [58:10] Well, they were clearly concerned enough they recorded the call. [58:12] And I should note that this was a call that was made to question the results of election. [58:19] And we have. And when we can't make a call to question election results, [58:23] then this country ought to just forget about it. [58:26] You weren't just questioning the election results. [58:28] I was questioning the election. [58:29] You were asking him to find you votes. [58:30] And I should note that there is no evidence of fraud. [58:32] There is no rigged election in the state of Georgia. [58:35] I want to get back to the audience, though, Mr. President, [58:37] because those are false claims you're making about what happened in Georgia. [58:40] Jordan Tullaburger is here. He's an undeclared voter from Hollis. [58:43] He voted for you in 2020. [58:44] Jordan, what is your question for President Trump tonight? [58:46] Thank you, Mr. Trump. Thank you very much. [58:48] I'm 26. I'm a veteran. I help manage a private aviation company. [58:54] You want a job? I'd love one, yeah. [58:56] I'm looking for somebody very good. [58:59] I'm not for mandates or government interference in private business, [59:02] but I've seen Republicans going after us, like DeSantis, after Disney. [59:06] Right. What would you do as president to protect us [59:08] from government interference? [59:09] Well, I'm the one that really wants to protect you. [59:12] All of these fake investigations of me are about election interference. [59:16] They think, because I'm leading Biden by 11 points, 7 points, 9 points, [59:21] I'm leading DeSantis by a lot, by 40 points or 45 points. [59:26] I think he ought to just relax and take it easy and think about the future, [59:29] because right now his future is not looking so good. [59:32] I will tell you this. [59:32] We are really putting it to Biden, but he's putting it to himself, because the economy stinks, [59:39] inflation is horrible, and the border is a disaster. And by the way, the way he got out of [59:44] Afghanistan was the single most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. [59:50] Mr. President, I have one more question for you here tonight. And I think while we are in front of the [59:54] voters here in New Hampshire, this is a fundamental question for you. You are running in the 2024 race. If you are [1:00:01] the Republican nominee and you are in that 2024 race, will you commit tonight to accepting the [1:00:06] results of the 2024 election? [1:00:07] Yeah, if I think it's an honest election, absolutely, I would. [1:00:10] Will you commit to accepting the results of the election, regardless of the outcome? [1:00:14] Do you want me to answer it again? If I think it's an honest election, I would be honored to. [1:00:19] And right now we are so far ahead of both Democrat and Republican. And you know what, if I don't win, [1:00:25] this country is going to be in big trouble. It's so sad to see what's happening. [1:00:29] But no commitment there on accepting the results, regardless of the outcome. [1:00:33] If it's an honest election, correct, I would. [1:00:35] Okay, so not committing to accepting the 2024 election results or acknowledging what happened [1:00:40] in 2020. President Trump, I want to thank you for coming here tonight. This is an important [1:00:43] conversation with voters to hear and to have. Thank you to our audience and to our host, St. Anselm [1:00:48] College. CNN's coverage continues with Anderson Cooper and Jake Taffer. [1:00:55] Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Caitlin. Good job. Thank you. Thank you, [1:01:08] guys. We love you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Whitney. Good luck, Whitney. [1:01:14] Thanks, everyone. [1:01:17] We're looking there at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Tonight, [1:01:22] CNN Town Hall, moderated by Caitlin Collins. The first of the 2024 presidential campaign is now in the [1:01:27] books. Good evening from New York.