President Trump in an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker. The president grew angry and walked out, calling Welker "crooked."
NBC News
An angry Donald Trump walked out of an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after an extraordinary exchange in which the president angrily insisted—without offering any proof—that “elections are crooked and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked…and so is ABC and CBS and CNN.”
The interview, airing on NBC Sunday, turned confrontational when Welker asked Trump about his idea to use $1.8 billion in taxpayer money for a “weaponization fund” to compensate people who believe they were unfairly targeted by a federal government “weaponizing” the justice system against them.
“If it was up to me, I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve,” Trump said. “People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think of it. People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them.”
As the president made a series of claims about people he believed were falsely prosecuted, Welker pushed back, noting repeatedly that Trump had offered no evidence to support his claims.
“Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the weaponization fund,” Trump said as he shifted to comment on the news media and Welker. “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. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.”
IN FLIGHT - JUNE 5: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while aboard Air Force One on June 5, 2026 (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
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Trump has long accused the news media of being “crooked” or “fake news” and even “enemies of the people,” but has rarely done so in such an angry and personal way, as Welker, who remained calm and professional despite the president’s personal criticisms, repeatedly pressed Trump to back up his sensational claims:
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: The election was rigged. It was a dirty election.
KRISTEN WELKER: Mr. President –
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: And it's happening again right now in California.
KRISTEN WELKER: – you've never presented evidence –
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: It’s happening right now in California
KRISTEN WELKER: – that the 2020 election was rigged.
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Right now, it's look at what's happening in California.
KRISTEN WELKER: Where's the evidence to that?
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: It's four days –
KRISTEN WELKER: The Republicans are doing well in California.
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: In California, it's, no they're not. They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days and they aren't even close to coming up with the –
KRISTEN WELKER: That's how they count the votes in California.
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Do you know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election.
KRISTEN WELKER: There's – What? Do you have evidence to support that?
PRES. DONALD TRUMP: It's-- all I have to do is look. All I have to do is look.
KRISTEN WELKER: But that's not evidence.
When Trump insisted—again, without any evidence—that the slow counting of votes in California indicated election fraud, Welker pushed back, saying “but sir, that’s not evidence, and that’s how they count the votes in California.”
This seemed to make the president even angrier, calling Welker “crooked," which she immediately responded to. “To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker said. “But let’s continue.”
ForbesIs Donald Trump Planning To Target The News Media In A Second Term? Journalists Think So.Trump, however, did not want to continue. He turned briefly to complain that he gets unfair coverage from the press, telling Welker, “You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows they’re rigged. Do you know that I won an election in a landslide and I got 94% bad press.”
“You’re a one-sided crooked network,” Trump said. “Sorry, let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough.”
Trump then told Welker, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” pulled the microphone off his lapel and stood up, slowly walking away as Welker urged him to return to the interview.
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