President Donald Trump abruptly ended an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” after a tense exchange with host Kristen Welker over Trump’s claims the 2020 election was “rigged,” as was California’s recent primary election.
“Your elections are crooked, and you’re crooked, and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN. You’re one-sided, crooked networks. Let’s call it quits. Because I’ve had enough. Thank you darling,” Trump said to Welker before ending the interview and leaving the set.
Earlier in the discussion, Welker pressed Trump on his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and whether he plans to revive the controversial compensation pool for people who claimed to have been unfairly investigated by the government.
“Personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans,” Trump said.
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The fund faced bipartisan pushback from members of Congress and was temporarily blocked by a judge before acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice would not move forward with its creation. The fund was left out of the bill text for the reconciliation package passed by the Senate last week — though senators did not pass an amendment that would have barred the fund from being revived.
The president blamed the media for the fund’s demise.
“I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he’s not smart enough to know what’s going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people,” Trump said.
Welker pushed back on these claims, saying there was “no evidence” to support them. The president then went into a discussion about his belief that the 2020 election was rigged.
Welker asked Trump about whether individuals who participated in the attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pleaded guilty to subsequent charges should have access to the fund.
“They pled guilty because they were frightened,” Trump said, claiming that “people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization.”
As the interview intensified, so did what Welker described as “weather issues” in Wisconsin where the pre-taped interview took place. The conversation was paused multiple times as heavy rain hitting the barn’s roof made it difficult for the pair to hear each other.
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