President Donald Trump ended his “Meet the Press” interview after getting into a verbal spat with Kristen Welker over allegations of election fraud.
Tensions began to rise when Mr. Welker pressed Mr. Trump on whether he would push ahead with a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund aimed at protecting individuals who say they are being persecuted by the federal government, including those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, in the face of bipartisan resistance. Trump claimed those involved in the attack “lost everything” and that “FBI agents led them to the Capitol” that day. It’s a building. ” Welker has repeatedly refuted the latter, insisting that Trump has “no such evidence.”
President Trump said, “I don’t know what will happen to the weaponization fund.” “I love this idea, because there are people like you, the fake dirty press, the distorted press, people like Biden, who is stupid. He’s not smart enough to understand what’s going on, but the people who surrounded him, the people who surrounded his beautiful resolute desk in the Oval Office, what they did to people’s lives, they destroyed people. They sent people to prison who had done nothing wrong.”
“To be clear, there is no evidence of what you are saying,” Mr. Welker replied.
President Trump claimed there was “massive evidence” before saying the election was rigged.
After more back and forth (Mr. Welker insisted there was “no evidence” and Mr. Trump doubled down), the president slammed Mr. Welker, telling him to “meet the press.”
“They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your news media is crooked,” Trump declared. “And ‘Meet the Press’ is distorted.”
“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker said.
“Well, then you’re in their hands,” Trump replied. “You’re either crooked or stupid.”
Eventually, Trump had had enough, and before leaving, he told Welker, “You’re a one-sided, twisted network. I’m sorry. Enough is enough, let’s stop. Thank you, darling. Enjoy.”
The interview took place Friday in Wisconsin and aired on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning.
