CNN Town Halls & Debates

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**CNN Town Halls & Debates**

From Town Halls to Political Debates, CNN hosts open forums that give our audience the chance to hear directly from the people shaping their world. Politicians and newsmakers alike answer the tough questions from CNN’s top anchors and political experts. Subscribe to get the full, unedited audio from these special events.

Latest Episodes:

VP Debate Pence Vs Kaine Oct 05, 2016

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VP Debate Pence Vs Kaine

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Presidential Debate: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Hofstra University Sep 27, 2016

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Clinton, Trump clash in first debate: CNN's Reality Check Team vets the claims. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump clashed Monday in their first head-to-head debate of the general election season, with Trump in particular straying from the truth, CNN's Reality Check Team found. The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the debate and selected key statements from both candidates, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated. Clinton claimed Trump "thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese," a charge Trump immediately denied. Who's telling the truth? On November 6, 2012, Trump tweeted, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."

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Town Hall With Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan Jul 13, 2016

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House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday defended his endorsement of Donald Trump -- despite his frequent differences with the presumptive GOP nominee -- saying the only alternative is giving the presidency to Hillary Clinton. "It is a binary choice," Ryan said at a CNN town hall hosted by Jake Tapper. "It is either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. You don't get a third option." But the challenge facing Ryan was clear when he was asked a question by Zachary Marcone, a Republican who said he couldn't support Trump because he is "openly racist." "Can you tell me, how can you morally justify your support for this kind of candidate?" Marcone asked. Ryan didn't address the premise of the question, reiterating his stance that opposing Trump amounts to supporting Clinton. He pledged to always speak his mind when he disagrees with Trump but argued that the best chance for conservatives to have their priorities signed into law is with the businessman in the White House and pointed to the ability of the next president to nominate Supreme Court justices. As he spoke of the next president's ability to choose Supreme Court nominees and influence the high court over the long term, Ryan criticized Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The 83-year-old justice is the subject of controversy after she told CNN this week that Trump is a "faker" who is driven by his ego. "I think it is out of place in an appointed branch of government. That shows bias to me," Ryan said. "I don't think that is something she should have done."

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Libertarian Town Hall with Gary Johnson and Bill Weld Hour. 1 Jun 23, 2016

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In an election cycle full of surprises -- and unprecedented dissatisfaction with the major party candidates -- voters got a look at a couple of fresh faces Wednesday night in a town hall event live on CNN. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson, flanked by his running mate Bill Weld, used the opportunity to introduce himself to voters and slam the existing Washington order. "The two-party system is a two-party dinosaur, and they're about to come in contact with the comet here," Johnson told CNN's Chris Cuomo. Weld, a former Massachusetts Republican governor who once worked in President Ronald Reagan's Justice Department and wanted to serve as an ambassador in the Clinton administration, said "that duopoly down there in Washington is not getting a lot done." "It's almost like the parties exist more for the purpose of slandering each other than they do for having constructive approaches to legislation," Weld said. "We like to think we're going to be the third way." READ: What is Libertarianism? Despite their contempt for the current state of 2016 politics, the libertarians showed positive indifference to the political battles being waged on the campaign trail. When it came to Hillary Clinton attacking Donald Trump's business record or Trump calling Clinton corrupt, Johnson said he would "leave that to others." "I don't think either of us are going to engage in any sort of name-calling," Johnson said. "We're going to keep this to the issues, and the issues are plenty." The two had cordial words for Clinton and President Barack Obama, but were quick to voice their differences with Trump. "Starting with immigration, starting with free trade, going on and on and on, killing the families of Muslim terrorists. Really, it's what's coming out of his mouth that I really have issues with," said Johnson, a former two-term governor of New Mexico, of Trump. Weld, who regularly condemns Trump, cast his rhetoric as dangerous.

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Libertarian Town Hall with Gary Johnson and Bill Weld Hour. 2 Jun 23, 2016

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Democratic Debate - Brooklyn - Hour 02 Apr 15, 2016

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Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both came out swinging in a fiery, high-stakes debate on CNN Thursday night, as he cast doubt on her judgment and she criticized his command of policy and his record on guns.

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Democratic Debate - Brooklyn - Hour 01 Apr 15, 2016

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CNN Town Hall - Ted Cruz and family Apr 14, 2016

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday accused Donald Trump supporters of "acting like union boss thugs" in pursuit of the Republican Party nomination, saying during CNN's town hall that they are intimidating potential Republican National Convention delegates. "Donald and his team, it's almost like they're subjects in a course in clinical psychology. The conduct they do, literally, they accuse others of doing," Cruz told moderator Anderson Cooper during the event, which took place in New York ahead of Tuesday's primary. Cruz also predicted Trump would have trouble getting the support of Republicans at a contested convention. "In Cleveland, I believe if it's a contested convention ... we're going to be in the much stronger position to earn the majority of delegates and earn the nomination of the party," Cruz said. "In Wisconsin, the day before the election, Trump predicted a big victory," Cruz said. "What we saw was the party unify and come together, that's what its going to take to win the nomination." Responding to accusations by Trump that the rules of the Republican nomination process are "stacked against" him and the national party is rooting for him to lose in a CNN town hall Wednesday night. "Anyone who knows anything about Washington knows the establishment is not rooting for me," Cruz said. "The rules are simple, the way you get elected is you win a majority of the delegates in the elections. I think the way you win is you make the case to the voters and you win their votes."

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CNN Town Hall - Donald Trump and his family Apr 13, 2016

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Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the political system is "stacked against me," and accused the Republican Party of conspiring to stop him from clinching the party's nomination. At a special CNN town hall in New York City ahead of next Tuesday's crucial New York primary, Trump said: "I know the rules very well, but I know it's stacked against me by the establishment." The GOP presidential front-runner blasted "unfair" results in Colorado -- where he was swept by Ted Cruz at a party convention this weekend -- and Louisiana, where he won the primary but Cruz is seeking to sway delegates. Those developments, he said, were the result of establishment Republicans working against his campaign. "They changed the rules a number of months ago," Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "You know why they changed the rules? Because they saw how I was doing and they didn't like it." Trump, saying the Republican Party is "100%" controlled by the Republican National Committee, said he believes the RNC is rooting against him.

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CNN Town Hall - John Kasich and his family Apr 12, 2016

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Kasich on nomination race: 'It's a bizarre process'. Ohio Gov. John Kasich called the Republican presidential primary delegate process "bizarre" on Monday and said the Republican National Convention should adopt rules that would open up the nomination to more candidates. The comments came during CNN's town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper, featuring Kasich's wife, Karen, and two daughters, Emma and Reese.

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