'I wish you weren’t doing this': Mehdi Hasan proposes ten questions for CNN’s Donald Trump town hall

05 May 2023

MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan on Thursday pitched ten questions that he would ask former President Donald Trump at CNN's upcoming controversial town hall at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on Wednesday, May 10th.

New Hampshire Public Radio reported on Wednesday that the school is standing by its decision to host the event, insisting that it "is consistent with its mission of fostering civic dialogue."

Nonetheless, Hasan clarified that he would not have scheduled it in the first place.

"I do hope CNN Chief Chris Licht doesn't have to end up apologizing for giving Trump this platform in the same way that his predecessor Jeff Zucker had to apologize for running all those Trump rallies uninterrupted on CNN n back in 2016," Hasan began. "Personally, I wouldn't interview a man who has used live interviews to incite violence and tell lies; who has in the past encouraged violence against CNN itself. I wouldn't normalize him in that way, but if you are going to interview him, you need to have some very tough and very specific questions."

Hasan then fired off his list:

Number one: The president of the United States has to swear an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. You are on record, Mr. Trump, just a few months ago, calling for the termination of parts of the Constitution. So you have disqualified yourself from the presidency, have you not?

Number two: Many would argue that you, Mr. Trump, disqualified yourself from the presidency on January the Sixth, 2021 when you incited a mob to march on Congress and fight like hell — a mob you knew was armed, a mob you beckon to Washington, DC, a mob that included proud boys since convicted of sedition. And on the day itself, it wasn't just Fox hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham who sent texts to your chief of staff demanding you condemn the violence, but also your own son, Don Jr. So why didn't you? And why did your own son have to beg you to condemn the rioters?

Number three: On January the Sixth, more than 140 police officers were injured by your supporters. They suffered brain injuries, cracked ribs. One lost part of his finger. And yet you, Mr. Trump, have repeatedly vowed to pardon the people who did that to them and even took part in a music video with some of them. Why would any American who believes in law and order, who supports the police vote for you?

Number four: You were caught on tape just last month hugging a domestic terrorist, a woman convicted for her role in the January 6th riots. Again, why should anyone who believes in law and order, who supports the police, supports democracy,
vote for you given your open and deliberate support for convicted criminals.

Number five: In January of 2021 as part of what many call your coup attempt you told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in what you've called a 'perfect phone call' to find you extra votes — 11,780 to be precise. And you also claimed in that call that 5,000 dead people voted in Georgia even though a study commissioned by your own campaign found a day before that call that only nine so-called dead voters had cast ballots in Georgia in 2020. Why were you off by 4,991 dead voters? That was a blatant lie on your part, was it not? You knew it was false.

Number six: You are being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith for your mishandling of classified documents. But Mr.
Trump, you say the Presidential Records Act allowed you to quote, 'negotiate and discuss with the National Archives and Records Administration with NARA over which documents to give up.' That's false though, isn't it? It doesn't say that anywhere in the Presidential Records Act. It says you have to give up all the documents the moment you leave office. So tonight, Mr. Trump, can you point to exactly where it says that in the Presidential Records Act? Or will you finally admit that you're just making that up?

Number seven: You have been charged in Manhattan with 34 felony counts related to a payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who you're accused of having an affair with. Mr. Trump in April of 2018, you told reporters you didn't know about the payment to Stormy Daniels. 'Did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?' That was a lie. Your own lawyer has admitted that statement by you as false. So why should any American believe a single word you say?

Number eight: Do you want to apologize tonight to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who has received death threats after you posted images of you holding a baseball bat next to his head? And Mr. Trump, do you also want to apologize to him tonight for referring to this Black prosecutor, this Black man, as a degenerate psychopath, and as an animal?

Question nine: You've refused to testify in your own, in your own civil rape trial in New York, Mr. Trump. You've refused to even show up. E. Jean Carroll says you raped her in a department store changing room in the mid-1990s. Two of her friends have testified that she told them at the time that it happened, plus two other women who say you assaulted them as well, have also testified in this trial. You've denied the allegations, but why should anyone believe your denial on the issue of sexual misconduct given in this case it's not he said, she said, is it? It's he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said.

Number ten: You have said you wouldn't pick [Florida Governor] Ron DeSantis to be your running mate. But why would anyone agree to be your vice president, given the last guy who did that job says you endangered him and his family when your supporters tried to kill him on January the Sixth, while you said, according to your own chief of staff, that 'he deserved it?'

Hasan noted that his questions undoubtedly "require follow-ups" and that "you can't just ask one and then move on. Trump is a master of both dissembling and deflecting, especially on live TV when it's much harder to fact-check him in real-time and in front of an audience too, which will include his supporters."

Hasan thusly concluded his monologue with a final quip:

Good luck, CNN, but I wish you weren't doing this.

Watch the segment below or at this link.

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