The View's Hostin and Jake Tapper spar over CNN's Trump town hall: 'Night of unchallenged lies'

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The View’s Hostin challenges CNN's Tapper over network's town hall with Trump

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin confronted CNN anchor Jake Tapper Tuesday about his network’s recent town hall with former president and 2024 GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin confronted CNN anchor Jake Tapper Tuesday about his network’s recent town hall with former president and 2024 GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

Nearly two months after Hostin trashed CNN for hosting the event with Trump moderated by Kaitlin Collins, "The View" host complained to Tapper about the network airing Trump’s "unchallenged lies" to the nation with the broadcast.

Tapper defended CNN’s decision, saying Trump is the "leading Republican candidate" and that voters should get a chance to "see who this candidate is."

At the time of the town hall, Hostin disagreed with her co-hosts, claiming the event shouldn’t have happened at all and that Collins did not handle it well. She stated, "I don’t think that she was prepared. I don’t think he should have been given a platform. I was wondering when he was going to be fact-checked in real time."

'THE VIEW' HOSTS CLASH OVER TRUMP TOWN HALL, ASK IF CNN 'PASSING OUT KOOL-AID TO THE AUDIENCE'

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin interrogates CNN anchor Jake Tapper over his network hosting a Town Hall event with former President Donald Trump in May.  (Screenshot/ABC)

Other leftists in the media and online slammed the town hall for similar reasons. The event was also pointed to as one of the catalysts for the network pushing out former CNN CEO Chris Licht.

While Tapper appeared on the show Tuesday to plug his new book, Hostin took the opportunity to talk about the town hall. She told him, "I feel very strongly it was a mistake," adding, "I felt like it then. I feel like it now. I think it was mostly just a night of unchallenged lies. I don’t know why the chyron wasn’t checking him in real-time."

Hostin did grant Tapper the benefit of the doubt somewhat, saying, "Afterwards, I watched you. You did check him in full time, and I appreciated that." 

The anchor quipped, "A lot easier to do when you’re like 6000 miles away."

Still, Hostin continued with the criticism: "But it seemed one-sided and it made me – it was very polarizing." She asked, "What did you think of it? And did you agree with the decision to host the former twice-impeached – actually he’ll be thrice indicted if he’s indicted again – having him there that night?"

Tapper replied by defending Collins, saying, "So, first of all, I will say Kaitlin Collins did fact-check him in real-time, so I do want to say that." He then asked Hostin, "I think the bigger question is, you don’t even think that he should be hosted in a town hall?"

"No, I don’t," Hostin declared in response. 

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Former President Donald Trump sparred with CNN's Kaitlan Collins at a New Hampshire town hall in May. (Fox News)

He continued, "That is one question, and the other question is, if you do decide to do it, how would do you do it? And so, I disagree with you on the question of how. He’s the leading Republican and I think it is important for voters to get a chance to ask that person questions and to see who that candidate is."

Hostin interjected, "Even if he’s just going to lie?" 

"Now you're getting into the second part of the question, which is, should it be live?" Tapper responded before the discussion was interrupted by a commercial break.

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When the segment returned, Tapper was given a chance to continue. He said, "Okay, so, obviously Sunny and I disagree on whether or not you should have a town hall with the person who the Republican front-runner."

"And he’s a liar," she added. 

"He does tell a lot of lies. That is absolutely true," Tapper replied, adding, "The next question is, so how do you do it, right? How do you do it? One of the questions is, do you do it live? Because if you do it taped you can fact-check more effectively, you can put up chyrons –"

Co-host Joy Behar then pointed out, "Yeah, but you run the risk of him saying that you doctored the tape. You know he’ll say that." 

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The CNN anchor responded, "You say, ‘We’re going to air it all,’ but you add chyrons that correct…" 

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg chimed in, saying, "Maybe you don’t fill the audience with just people who like him."

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Tapper said that when they do town halls with Biden, for example, they use the audience that the candidate is trying to appeal to, in this case, primary voters. He noted it went the same way with this Trump town hall. Before any further debate broke out, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin quickly steered the conversation back to Tapper’s book.