US sending Ukraine 'so much equipment, ammo' it direly needs: Trump

• 

At the conclusion of a contentious CNN town hall event, Donald Trump stated that he would only accept the results of the 2024 election if he believed they were "honest".

During an hour-long "town hall" on the cable news channel that he frequently criticized as "fake news" while in the White House, Trump fielded questions about a wide range of topics, most notably the war in Ukraine, the debt ceiling, immigration, and his numerous legal issues.

"Most people understand that what happened was a rigged election," Trump insisted, referring to his 2020 presidential election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.

He promised to free a "large portion" of the hundreds of Trump backers who are currently serving prison sentences for their roles in the January 6, 2021 takeover of the US Capitol if re-elected.

When pressed by CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins, the mediator for the discussion held in front of a supportive Republican audience, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination for 2024 refused to unconditionally commit to accepting the outcomes of the upcoming White House vote.

"If I think it's an honest election, absolutely I would," Trump said.

In addition, the former President intervened in the contentious talks between the White House and Congress about increasing the country's debt ceiling, pleading with Republican lawmakers to refrain from doing so if Democrats refuse to agree to spending cuts.

"I say that the Republicans out there congressmen, senators if they don't give you massive cuts, you're gonna have to do a default," Trump said, before quickly adding that he sees such a scenario as unlikely.

Although the US government has never purposefully defaulted on a debt payment, some economists warn that the repercussions for the financial markets may be disastrous and result in widespread job losses.

The US is running out of weapons

On the war in Ukraine, Trump said the US is sending too much equipment and ammunition to Kiev, warning that the country is running out of weapons.

"It's an important question, so important because we're giving away so much equipment, we don't have ammunition for ourselves right now, we don't have ammunition for ourselves, we're giving away so much."

He vowed once again that, if re-elected, he will end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.

"I don't think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled," he said. "They're dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying and I'll have that done in 24 hours."

Read next: US running low on weapons, munition to give Ukraine: CNN

Trump bashed Biden over his handling of immigration saying that Thursday, when Title 42 lapses, will be a "day of infamy" along the US border with Mexico.

"You're going to have millions of people pouring into our country right now at a level that nobody's ever seen before," he said while implying that he may reinstitute a policy of separating families at the border to deter migrants.

"When you have that policy, people don't come," he said. "I know it sounds harsh."

The CNN event was viewed as Trump's first significant test of the 2024 presidential campaign. Since announcing his intention to run again in November, Trump has only held a few rallies before large groups of supporters.

Biden responded to Trump's appearance with a fund-raising appeal. "It's simple, folks," he tweeted. "Do you want four more years of that?"

Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison said the "American people were just reintroduced, in primetime, to a dangerous, extreme candidate who seeks to undermine democracy."

This is happening just one day after Trump was ordered by a New York jury to pay $5 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine who has accused the ex-President of raping her in a Manhattan department store changing room in 1996.

Trump strongly reiterated his denials, calling Carroll a "whack job" and calling the incident a "made-up story".

Trump dismissed such legal issues as a Democrats' plot to thwart his bid to represent the Republican Party in the 2024 election. He declared, "They're interfering with the election with this."

In a series of tense interactions, Trump called Collins, a former CNN White House correspondent, a "nasty person" while pandering to the audience, who reacted with frequent cheers and laughter.

CNN claimed the audience was made up of New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in the state's 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Read next: US digs into its global shells stocks for Ukraine amid shortage: WSJ