You wouldn't have heard former President Trump rage about a stolen election during Fox News' town hall event in Iowa on Thursday, but be assured that rage he did. Fox pre-taped the hour-long prime-time special, allowing it to edit out any mention of "the big lie" following its defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over its broadcasting of those claims. As the Guardian notes, it was Trump's baseless talk of 2020 election fraud that marked CNN's "chaotic, lie-laden town hall with the former president that has been harshly criticized by journalists." More:
- "Though Fox may have edited out any defamation, they left in several lies and exaggeration," the Guardian reports, noting Trump "embellished personal grievances and accomplishments," claimed doctors want to kill babies after they're born, and suggested "wokeness" was keeping the military from learning how to fight.
- At times, host Sean Hannity acted as Trump's defender. After playing a video of President Biden falling, Trump mentioned his own issues walking down a ramp. "You were coming down a ramp, didn't have a rail," Hannity responded. "You had dress shoes on like you have now, which are very slippery."
- While Trump "shockingly defended" Biden against ageist jokes, per the Daily Beast, he also hit out at the president. He criticized the administration's handling of the border crisis, energy prices, and "law and order," per Newsweek. He "doesn't understand what is happening in the world," Trump said of Biden, per USA Today.
- Trump also attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and indicated he would not let up until he poses less of a threat to Trump's third White House bid. "I don't think he's going to be second that much longer," said Trump, who "repeatedly mangled DeSantis' name," per USA Today. "I think he's going to be third or fourth."
- Hannity "served Trump a series of softball questions, gently directing him to speak to his strengths," per the Guardian. Hannity did ask about a 2021 recording on which Trump is allegedly heard admitting to holding classified documents, but accepted his answer: "I don't know anything about it," Trump said, per USA Today. "All I know is this, everything I did was right."
- Trump then pivoted to Biden's own issues with classified documents, stressing that some documents were found in "Chinatown in Washington, DC, where nobody even speaks English." "Chinatown is very, it's in favor of China," he added, per Raw Story.
Fox plans to air more footage from Thursday's event on Friday evening. (More
Donald Trump stories.)
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