Former President Donald Trump on Thursday defended the network he once labeled \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, CNN aired a town hall in New Hampshire with Trump, the GOP front-runner in the 2024 presidential race, that led to extensive media outrage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While liberal pundits fumed, however, the network drew more than 3 million people for the event, according to The Hill<\/a>, far above anything CNN has been attracting lately in the 8 p.m. time slot taken up by the town hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said the liberal network had made a wise decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH,\u201d the former president\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0on his Truth Social platform. \u201cI believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they haven\u2019t seen in a very long time. It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Radical Left screamed, \u2018Take it down, take it down,\u2019 during the Show, because they saw that I was making so many important points on the Border, Energy Independence, the Afghanistan Catastrophe, Inflation, the Economy, Russia\/Ukraine, and so much more. Many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer \u2018Brilliance,’\u201d Trump\u00a0added<\/a>\u00a0in a second post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not everyone agreed.\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0noted that voices inside CNN and in the liberal media community were gnashing their teeth<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt should have been a taped interview where you could fact-check him. The audience was laughing at his comments about Jean Carroll. Disgraceful,\u201d the Post quoted a CNN personality it did not name as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was in reference to a woman who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her and was awarded $5 million in her\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against him<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the opening monologue of his show, CNN host Anderson Cooper defended his network\u2019s decision to air the Trump town hall but told viewers he understood their outrage over the \u201cdisturbing\u201d display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n