CNN Analyst Alyssa Farah Griffin Defends Trump Town Hall Against Vigorous Disagreement

CNN political analyst Alyssa Farah Griffin defended the network for giving Donald Trump a platform for Wednesday night’s town hall forum, saying it was important because it showed people exactly “who he is.”

Farah Griffin, who served in the Trump administration and has since emerged as a tough critic of the former president, made the comment after Joy Behar said she changed her mind on CNN’s decision to invite Trump to the New Hampshire event.

“I have to say, start this off with, I was wrong. She said they shouldn’t show him,” Behar said, pointing to co-host Sunny Hostin, “and I said they should because I’m a big defender of the First Amendment, and I believe that everybody should show who they really are, and let’s vote accordingly. But what I didn’t know was that the audience would be filled with his cult. I would like to know if CNN was passing out Kool-Aid before the event started. The guy is trashing E. Jean again. I wonder if she can sue him for defamation again. He called her a whack job. When he was trashing her, this annoying audience was clapping…”

“I have to respectfully disagree,” Griffin interjected. “This is a democracy. 74 million people voted for him. He’s the GOP frontrunner, outperforming other people by double digits. And by the way, America got to see who he is last night, a ranting, raving lunatic who sided with Vladimir Putin. That said he would re-start family separation. He didn’t win a single voter. That was radioactive for independents and moderates.”

As CNN noted, the audience at the Trump town hall was made up of Republican voters or undecided voters expected to vote Republican in the upcoming primary elections. CNN boss Chris Licht defended the town hall in internal comments on Thursday morning, essentially arguing: This is what Republican voters look like.

“I don’t think that she was prepared,” Hostin said of moderator Kaitlan Collins. ” 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… I think she needed a producer in her ear and I think we needed a chyron: This is a lie, this is a lie, this is a lie. That’s what the media’s job is. The media’s job is to hold their feet to the fire and get to get at the truth.”

After some banter about Trump’s policies as president, Sara Haines chimed in.

“I thought it was a good idea to have it, and I still think it’s a good idea, because much like Alyssa, I don’t think that’s our job, our job is to push back, to ask questions.”

Watch The View clip above.

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