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The biggest event so far in the 2024 election cycle took place in New Hampshire Wednesday evening. 

Former President Trump participated in a town hall event hosted by CNN, with Kaitlan Collins serving as moderator.

The fact that the event was happening at all had drawn some criticism beforehand — mostly, but not exclusively, from liberals and the left.

On the other hand, a ratings bonanza was forecast by many media-watchers.

After all the hype, here are the main takeaways. A disaster for CNN

Trump did not so much win the event as CNN lost it — catastrophically.

Not all of the blame can be placed on Collins, though there were clearly moments when she could have pushed back faster or more strongly.

A far bigger problem was a decision, presumably taken by producers, to have a live audience “made up of Republicans and undeclared voters who tend to take part in New Hampshire’s Republican primary,” as Collins put it in her introductory remarks. Related coverage from the CNN town hall event: Trump snaps at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: ‘You’re a nasty person’ Trump won’t commit to accepting 2024 election results Ocasio-Cortez on Trump town hall: ‘CNN should be ashamed of themselves’ Trump calls overturning Roe ‘a great victory,’ dodges on federal abortion ban Trump calls E. Jean Carroll a ‘whack job’ after sexual abuse verdict Trump refuses to say 2020 election wasn’t rigged at CNN town hall

What that meant was an audience loudly supportive of Trump at every turn — and plainly disdainful of Collins. 

Around halfway through the event, Trump’s description of Collins as “a nasty person” drew whoops of delight.

Not a single tough question was asked of Trump by any audience member.

Perhaps most strikingly of all, Trump’s denial of ever having met, much less abused, E. Jean Carroll, received raucous approval — despite a nine-person jury having found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll only the previous day.

Offering his own spin on Carroll’s story, Trump wondered “What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you are playing hanky panky in a dressing room, OK?”

Many in the audience laughed.

Media figures, as well as politicians on the left, reacted with horror.

“I can’t believe this is being allowed on @CNN,” tweeted Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor whose allegations of sexual harassment sparked the downfall of that network’s one-time supremo, Roger Ailes. “This is promulgating the cult leadership of Trump — and people are laughing at sexual assault.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted, “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.”

Ocasio-Cortez added, “The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”

CNN shouldn’t create programming to please Ocasio-Cortez, of course — any more than it should mold coverage to please Trump.

But the network has serious questions to answer about an event that spiraled so abjectly — and set up one of its own rising stars for a humiliating failure. Trump was strikingly evasive on abortion

Collins did have some sliver of success when she pressed Trump on his position on abortion.

She was not able to wring from him a specific answer on whether he would sign a federal abortion ban if he were to win back the presidency in 2024. Yet, the vagueness and evasiveness of his response was revealing.

Trump proclaimed that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade last June was “a great victory.” His rationale was an unusual one.

The former president contended that the decision “was an incredible thing for pro-life because it gave pro-life something to negotiate with.”

The explanation that followed was not clear, but Trump appeared to be arguing that, with the erstwhile constitutional guarantee of a right to abortion gone, it was easier to make deals between liberals and conservatives on certain limits to abortion.

Trying to distance himself from the most rigid anti-abortion positions in his party — positions that have fared badly at the polls in recent months — he added, “I happen to believe in the exceptions” to outright bans.

Still, Trump several times avoided Collins’s question on whether he would sign a federal ban. Trump on the debt ceiling: ‘You’re gonna have to do a default’

The former president encouraged his party colleagues on Capitol Hill to hold to a hard line in the ongoing talks about the debt ceiling — even if it came at the price of the kind of U.S. default that virtually all credible economists say would be disastrous.

Trump vigorously backed the position put forward by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) among others — that the debt ceiling should only be raised if President Biden and the Democrats accede to steep spending cuts.

The White House has declined to countenance that idea. Democrats often note that Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling three times during Trump’s one term, even as he added more than $7 trillion to the national debt.

Trump insisted Republicans in Congress should stand firm.

“I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re gonna have to do a default,” he said.

He predicted that the Democrats would “absolutely cave” in the face of such a strong position.

But, he suggested, even if they did not and the U.S. went into default for the first time in its history, “it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors.” Election lies and downplaying Jan. 6

Perhaps the most predictable part of Wednesday’s event came with Trump’s standard lines about the 2020 election, and his minimization of what took place on Jan. 6, 2021.

In both cases, Collins tried to push back, but a combination of the Trump-backing crowd and his brash demeanor contributed to her getting steamrollered.

Trump said that 2020 was “a rigged election.”

It was not.

He also said that the protesters on Jan. 6 2021 “were there with love in their heart.”

Around 140 police officers were injured on Jan. 6, when a crowd ransacked the Capitol while seeking to overturn a legitimate presidential election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

Trump soon afterward became the first American president in history to be twice impeached. The second impeachment was for inciting the Jan. 6 riot. A big night for Trump spells trouble for his GOP rivals

CNN may well have delivered Trump his biggest boost yet in his quest for the 2024 GOP nomination — an ironic twist for a news network to which the former president almost always used to append the term “Fake News.”

All of the traits that Trump’s hardcore supporters admire were on full display on Wednesday — the belligerence, the swatting-aside of criticism and the mocking of opponents and adversaries.

He never came close to being trapped in any politically awkward spot — save perhaps when declining to answer whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion. Tornado touches down in Colorado, caught during live newscast Democrats target CNN over Trump town hall

Above all, CNN got humiliated at his hands — a sweet victory for conservatives who detest the network.

The event plainly reinforced Trump’s position as the dominant player in the GOP field.

That is very bad news for the rivals who are already trailing in his wake.

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Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’

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Trump 'very disappointed' in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to 'sit down and sign a deal'

Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.

The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.

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From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral

Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.

“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.

“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.

However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.

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He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.

“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.

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It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.

State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.

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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”

It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.

Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.

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From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit

The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.

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40 killed in blast at Iran’s biggest port as Tehran denies explosion ‘linked to fuel for missiles’

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40 killed in blast at Iran's biggest port as Tehran denies explosion 'linked to fuel for missiles'

At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.

The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.

Iranian Red Crescent rescuers work at the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters
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Iranian Red Crescent rescuers work at the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters

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The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the US met for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.

Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.

Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.

Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.

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Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.

The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.

Firefighters work to extinguish the fire. Pic: AP
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Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Pic: AP

Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

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According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.

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The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.

It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.

Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.

Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.

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Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis’s tomb to remember the late pontiff

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Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis's tomb to remember the late pontiff

Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.

“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”

They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.

People take photos of the grave of late Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica.
Pic: AP/Andrew Medichini
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People take photos of the grave of late Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica. Pic: AP/Andrew Medichini

A single white rose left on the tomb. Pic: Vatican
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A single white rose left on the tomb. Pic: Vatican

And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.

Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”

The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.

More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.

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Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.

All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.

Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.

Father Alessandro Masseroni meeting the Pope
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Father Alessandro Masseroni meeting the Pope

He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.

“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”

People attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis at the Vatican, April 26, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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People attend the funeral of Pope Francis. Pic: Reuters/Yara Nardi

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Video shows Pope’s tomb

What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.

“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”

That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.

Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.

Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.

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Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.

Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.

You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.

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The farewell to Pope Francis

“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.

“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”

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