NH Gov. Sununu lambasts GOP voters at CNN town hall: 'embarrassing'
"[I]t doesn't shine a positive light on New Hampshire," he said.
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu excoriated Republicans who attended a recent CNN town hall in the Granite State with former President Donald Trump.
During the event, Trump made light of a recent jury decision holding him liable for battery and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll, reiterating his denial of the accusations and asserting that her story made little sense. Trump's defense on the issue struck a chord with the audience, who laughed at his summary of the alleged events.
"What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you're playing hanky-panky in a dressing room," he rhetorically asked CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins.
Sununu described the audience reaction as "embarrassing" in an MSNBC interview with Jen Psaki slated for release on Sunday.
"The audience was absolutely filled with Trump supporters, so I wasn't surprised to hear the support," he said. "But when you’re talking about a serious issue like that, and laughter and mocking and all that, it's completely inappropriate, without a doubt, and it doesn't shine a positive light on New Hampshire."
He did, however, assert that the room was largely full of Trump supporters and noted that Collins introduced the audience members as they asked questions by noting their past history of supporting the former president.
"Maybe they're undeclared voters, but I believe every single one of them had voted for Trump at some point," Sununu told Psaki. "I don't know how they determined that and set that up, but obviously it was a roomful of Trump supporters so no one should have been surprised to hear the support."
"But again, on that issue, it was... I would call it embarrassing," he concluded.
Sununu has been a prominent critic of Trump and he has drawn speculation that he may mount a 2024 presidential bid, though he has yet to declare his candidacy.
Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.