WATCH: The Stunning Moment Kaitlan Collins Protests As Trump Lies Right To Her Face About What She Just Said
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins protested when ex-President Donald Trump lied right to her face about something she’d said only seconds earlier at the CNN town hall.
Collins moderated a CNN town hall at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire Wednesday night that devolved into a chaotic spectacle of attacks, falsehoods, and abuse that sparked a barrage of criticism and recriminations at the network.
Perhaps lost in the shuffle was an extraordinary moment in which Collins was compelled to object when Trump claimed she had just “admitted” something that she definitely had not admitted.
The subject was ex-VP Mike Pence, and the exchange opened with Trump refusing to apologize for endangering Pence’s life “because he did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures, and I think we would have had a different outcome.”
This kicked off an argument in which Collins repeatedly explained that Pence “had no authority” to do what Trump claimed he should have done — an argument that ended with Trump claiming “pretty much you admitted what I said was right,” and Collins protesting “I did not”:
COLLINS: The officer was not bragging about the fact he killed her, but one person who was at the Capitol that day as you know was your vice president, Mike Pence, who says that you endangered his life on that day? Do you feel —
TRUMP: I don’t think he was in any danger.
COLLINS: Mr. President, do you feel that you owe him an apology?
TRUMP: No, because he did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures, and I think we would have had a different outcome. I really did.
[APPLAUSE]
COLLINS: But he doesn’t have the authority to do that as you know.
TRUMP: What?
COLLINS: The vice president does not have the authority to reject those election results.
TRUMP: Okay, are you ready? Let’s have this just now because it’s interesting. Let’s keep it interesting, all right?
[LAUGHTER]
TRUMP: I like Mike Pence very much. He’s a very fine man. He’s a very nice man. He made a mistake.
His lawyer said, you cannot move. I call them the human conveyor belt. I said, even if the votes, you mean — I talked to his lawyer, even if the votes are absolutely fraudulent, he can send — yes, sir, he can send them back. And the Democrats played it and the RINOs played it.
And then the election was over. They told him he couldn’t do it. And Mike said to me, I can’t do it. The lawyers told me I can’t do it. I can’t do it. But the lawyers were wrong because right after the election, they all met the RINOS and the Democrats, and they worked out a plan to make sure that future vice presidents don’t do what I said you could do.
COLLINS: That’s not what happened. You’re referring to the Electoral Count Act.
TRUMP: That’s exactly right.
COLLINS: I’ve read — I’ve read that. There is no authority.
TRUMP: No, excuse me.
COLLINS: Legal experts, including Republican legal experts say that he does not have that authority, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Kaitlan, why did they change the law then saying that you can’t do it?
COLLINS: They didn’t change the law, they strengthened the law because they were worried about presidents exploiting —
TRUMP: Oh, they strengthened it, meaning, you could do it.
[LAUGHTER]
TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you.
COLLINS: That’s not what it means.
TRUMP: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
COLLINS: They strengthened the law because they were worried–
TRUMP: Mike had the right to do it. They convinced him he didn’t and it was a horrible thing for our country.
If you would have sent those votes back to Georgia, Pennsylvania, and other states — Wisconsin, which if you look at Wisconsin, they virtually admitted now that the election was rigged.
COLLINS: They have not admitted that, Mr. President.
TRUMP: If he would have sent those votes back to many of those states, they would not come back in the affirmative. And remember what I said, and you just said it, pretty much you admitted what I said was right.
COLLINS: I did not.
TRUMP: They said he didn’t have the right to do it and he did have the right to do it and that’s why they changed the law taking that right away.
COLLINS: I should note that your campaign paid for a recount that happened in Wisconsin, it actually had more votes for President Biden by the end of it.
But I want to move on to Wayne Beyer. He’s a retired attorney from North Conway.
TRUMP: By the way, so many illegal votes were cast in Wisconsin. And if you look in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they had so many illegal votes, they didn’t even know what to do with them. You’re absolutely wrong about that.
COLLINS: Mr. President, there weren’t any fraudulent votes in Wisconsin.
Watch above via CNN.
