“Mercy Rule”: CNN Abruptly Cut Trump Town Hall Short by Twenty Minutes

CNN cut short the network’s town hall with President Trump Wednesday night by twenty minutes after Trump, backed by a wildly supportive audience (hand picked by CNN), took control of the forum from anchor Kaitlan Collins right from the start and never let up. The live event at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire was scheduled to run from 8 p.m. EDT until 9:30 p.m., however right before 9:10 p.m. Collins abruptly ended the town hall.

President Trump smiles as he walks on stage at start of CNN town hall, screen image.

An intro to a live thread by the Telegraph documented the scheduled length of the town hall:

Good evening. Follow our updates as Donald Trump participates in a ‘town hall’ during which he will face questions from a live audience. The 90-minute event comes one day after a civil jury found the former US President liable for the sexual abuse of writer E Jean Carroll. Mr Trump reacted to that finding by posting on his Truth Social app that the case was a “witch hunt” and that he had “absolutely no idea who this woman is”. Expect further defensive comments when Mr Trump takes the stage in New Hampshire tonight. The event will be moderated by former chief White House correspondent and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.

Puck’s Dylan Byers reported on CNN cutting the town hall short, “Note: The CNN Town Hall was a 90 minute broadcast, though the network expected the actual event to go as long as 75 minutes. They stopped less than 70 minutes in. In other words, they could have gone longer if they wanted—which is usually what executives do with big ratings draws”

Exchanges like these were why CNN threw in the towel.

Breitbart’s Joel Pollak observed the audience was laughing at Collins, “The @CNN audience is laughing at Kaitlin Collins because she keeps trying to squeeze Trump’s answers into her preconceived categories. It’s stupid and, yes, it is funny to laugh at her doing that.”

Clip where audience laughs at Collins:

Earlier Wednesday, Dylan Byers reported CNN was set to promote Collins to host of her own prime time show.

Collins was so confident and loaded for bear at the outset.

Last word to Steve Bannon, “First Time Ever ‘Mercy Rule’ Invoked…”