President Trump lashed out Sunday at NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,” calling the news talk show “crooked” and ending an interview early over questions about recent elections in California.
In a heated exchange with host Kristen Welker, Mr. Trump reiterated his unsupported claim that the 2020 election was rigged and alleged election fraud in California, citing the state’s multi-day vote-counting process as evidence of cheating.
“The [2020] election was rigged. It was a dirty election,” Mr. Trump said.
“You’ve never presented evidence that the 2020 election was rigged,” Ms. Welker said.
“Right now … look at what’s happening in California,” the president said.
Ms. Welker asked for evidence and Mr. Trump said that four days had passed since the election and ballots were still being counted.
Ms. Welker said Republicans were doing well in California, but Mr. Trump said they were not “because it’s a rigged election.”
The two went back and forth, with Ms. Welker asking for evidence until Mr. Trump asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?”
Ms. Welker pushed back, noting that the slow vote count is standard practice in California and that Mr. Trump has never presented concrete evidence of fraud.
“State and local officials acknowledge they are slow…” she said.
“No, they’re crooked,” Mr. Trump shot back. “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.”
Ms. Welker responded, “To be fair, I’m not crooked. But let’s continue.”
“Really? Well, you play right into their hands then,” the president said.
Ms. Welker attempted to move along, but Mr. Trump said, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.”
She tried again to continue to move along, but Mr. Trump excoriated her and her network.
“You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged,” he said. “Do you know that I won an election in a landslide and I got 94% bad press.”
Mr. Trump told Ms. Welker he won in a landslide in 2024 because she and her network “have no credibility.”
The exchange grew increasingly tense, with Mr. Trump threatening to end the interview while Ms. Welker attempted to keep things on track, reminding him she traveled to Wisconsin for the interview.
Mr. Trump ultimately signaled that he wanted to end the interview, citing the amount of time he had already given her. He ended the interview early as Ms. Welker asked him to stay longer.
“We’re like a third-world country,” the president said. ‘You’re a one-sided, crooked network. Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
After the interview, which was recorded on Friday, Mr. Trump joined his supporters at a rally in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and told them how angry he had become with NBC.
“So. I just did an interview in the most beautiful barn I’ve ever seen. It was a beauty. It was raining and it was with NBC Fake News. And because it was raining, I got a little bit angry at them. I was not happy with them,” he said. “But we had a good time.”
