GOP Rep Fact-Checks CNN Panelists to Their Faces, Corrects the Record on What Trump Said
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds fact-checked CNN panelists after the network’s town hall with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night in New Hampshire.
In a six-to-one standoff, Donalds defused many of the claims the liberal commentators made.
One such claim, by former Obama adviser Van Jones, was that Trump, the leading GOP contender in the 2024 presidential race, “threw Ukraine under the bus” and would let Russian leader Vladimir Putin win its war there.
“If you’re watching this, trying to figure out what’s going to happen to America, you should be very worried. He threw Ukraine under the bus. Just threw ’em under the bus. So a vote for this guy is a vote for a Putin victory. Period, point blank, you can’t get away from that,” Jones said.
Donalds, who has endorsed Trump in the GOP primary race, fired back in staunch disagreement.
“With respect to Ukraine, I totally disagree,” the congressman said. “He did not say he was just going to give over Ukraine the way you intimate, Van. He did not say that.
“What he said … is that he would actually look for a solution to end it quickly. He put 24 hours on it, but let’s be very clear, what Joe Biden has done has been a disaster.”
The same network that claimed Trump was a Russian spy is the same network that said tonight that Trump wants to “hand over Ukraine to Russia.”
This is irresponsible, and I’m glad I could correct the record. pic.twitter.com/UpVis0hJdE
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) May 11, 2023
Donalds later posted a clip from the panel debate on Twitter, writing that CNN’s claims about Trump and Ukraine were careless.
“The same network that claimed Trump was a Russian spy is the same network that said tonight that Trump wants to ‘hand over Ukraine to Russia,'” Donalds wrote. “This is irresponsible, and I’m glad I could correct the record.”
Many on social media agreed that Trump said nothing in the town hall that would suggest throwing Ukraine under the bus, as Jones claimed.
I strongly encourage everyone to watch this masterclass of Congressman Byron Donalds taking on an entire CNN panel of fake news hacks.
Byron Donalds would make a great Presidential candidate one day. pic.twitter.com/8YeLvQjKqe
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) May 11, 2023
The issue arose when CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked the former president if he would continue giving money and weapons to Ukraine.
Trump responded that he would settle the war in one day.
“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day — 24 hours,” Trump said. “Because I’ll meet with Putin, I’ll meet with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. They both have weaknesses and they both have strengths — and within 24 hours that war will be settled. It will be over. It will be absolutely over.”
Collins then asked him if he wanted Ukraine to win the war.
“I don’t think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people and breaking down this country,” the former president said.
His answer resulted in applause from the audience.
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