Trump demands debt default, doesn’t rule out US abortion ban during CNN town hall

Former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to default on the US national debt if President Biden won’t agree to budget cuts and refused to rule out a federal abortion ban if he retakes the White House during a CNN town hall Wednesday night.

Trump, 76, made the jolting remarks amid cheers from a supportive crowd of Republican and undecided voters in New Hampshire — while also ridiculing Biden, 80, and attacking CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins as a “nasty person.”

“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,” Trump said, moments after disparaging E. Jean Carroll, who on Tuesday won a $5 million defamation and sexual battery judgment against Trump for an alleged mid-1990s sexual assault.

“I don’t believe they’re going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don’t want to have that happen. But it’s better than what we’re doing right now because we’re spending money like drunken sailors,” Trump said.

“Just to be clear, Mr. President, you think the US should default if the White House does not agree to the spending cuts Republicans are demanding?” Collins interjected.

“Well, you might as well do it now because you’ll do it later because we have to save this country. Our country is dying. Our country is being destroyed by stupid people,” Trump said.

Collins asked about his presidential opposition to using the debt ceiling to win concessions, saying, “Why is it different now that you’re out of office?”

“Now I’m not president,” Trump said to laughter.

Biden has refused to negotiate with the Republican-led House of Representatives, which passed a measure to raise the debt limit, coupled with spending cuts — with the White House arguing the two matters should be handled separately.

Biden has pointed out that the national debt soared under Trump, though that was largely the result of bipartisan COVID-19 pandemic programs.

The US could default sometime in early June if a compromise isn’t reached.

“It’s really psychological more than anything else,” Trump said of a default, which could increase future US borrowing costs. “It could be very bad, it could be maybe nothing. maybe you have a bad week or a bad day. But look, you have to cut your costs when we’re spending $7 trillion on — much of it on nonsense.

“You’re gonna default eventually anyway, but it’s gonna be much messier,” he continued. “I don’t think you’ll have to default. I think if the Republicans hold strong and if they say… ‘We want $5 trillion off,’ I really think the Democrats have no choice but to do it. And if I win, they’re going to be doing the same thing to me in two years, I guarantee you that.”

When pressed on abortion, Trump was much more coy — refusing to firmly state his policy on a federal abortion ban, which some congressional Republicans want to enact.

The Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade returned abortion policy to the states, but some Republicans want to impose a national standard — with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) proposing, for example, a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“Some of your allies on Capitol Hill say that they want to introduce legislation when it comes to banning abortion. If they send it to your desk, would you sign it?” Collins asked.

“Some people are at six weeks, some people are at three weeks, two weeks,” Trump said.

“Where is President Trump?” the journalist pressed after other failed attempts at a firm answer.

“President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what’s fair for the country,” he said.

Trump claimed credit for appointing three of the judges who voted to overturn longstanding federal abortion rights, however, and said, “I am honored to do what I did. And a lot of people said — they said, ‘in 150 years he’s now the most consequential president because he saved so many lives.’”

Trump is the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, though there’s expected to be a crowded field — with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy already running and others, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) considered potentially strong challengers.

Trump refused to offer remorse for his actions ahead of the Capitol riot on Jan.6, 2021, and said that he disagrees with his then-Vice President Mike Pence saying that his life was threatened by an unhinged mob that chanted they wanted to hang him for not rejecting Biden’s Electoral College victory.

“I don’t think he was in any danger,” Trump said, adding that “no,” he doesn’t owe Pence an apology because “he did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures and I think we would have had a different outcome.”

Trump said that he was inclined to pardon a “large portion” of the more than 1,000 of his supporters criminally charged for storming the Capitol and condemned the “thug” Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, 36, as she climbed through a busted-out window.

The ex-president didn’t address some of his recent controversies, such as the fact that he faces criminal charges in Manhattan linked to 2016 hush-money payments under a novel business-records legal theory — and he also didn’t raise some vulnerabilities for Biden after a day of heavy coverage of House Republican probes of Biden family income from overseas.

But previewing his looming clashes with Biden, Trump mocked his successor, saying, “I don’t need scripts, like a certain person.”