Donald Trump Storms Out of ‘Meet the Press,’ Abruptly Ends Interview
What To Know
- During a Meet the Press interview, Donald Trump abruptly ended the conversation and insulted moderator Kristen Welker.
- Trump repeated unfounded claims about election rigging in the 2020 presidential election and California’s recent primary, providing no evidence when pressed by Welker.
- Welker reported that Trump later agreed to participate in another Meet the Press interview in the future.
President Donald Trump stormed out of a Meet the Press interview on Friday, June 5, and insulted moderator Kristen Welker — and the NBC show’s viewers saw it all play out when the interview aired on Sunday morning.
Talking with Welker at a farm in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Trump “made a series of false, misleading or exaggerated comments,” NBC News reported in a fact-checking article.
Once again, Trump made claims of election rigging in the United States.
“The [2020 presidential] election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it’s happening again right now in California,” he said, referencing California’s recent primary elections. “It’s four days, and they aren’t even close to coming up with the — do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.”
When Welker urged Trump to offer evidence to support his claims, Trump said, “All I have to do is look. And I listen. I listen to people.”
“But, sir, that’s not evidence,” Welker countered.
As NBC News notes, the long vote count in California is a result of the state’s election rules and mail-in voting protocol, in which ballots postmarked by election day can be accepted up to a week later and then requires validation, processing, and tallying.
NBC
In the interview, Trump told Welker that California officials are “crooked just like you’re crooked. Your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked.”
“To be fair, I’m not crooked, but let’s continue,” Welker said.
“Really?” Trump responded. “Well, you play right into their hands then. You’re either crooked, or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.”
Then Trump continued his rampage against the press. “Your elections are crooked, and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN. You’re a one-sided crooked network.”
At that point, Trump bailed on the interview. “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” he said. “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
As Welker protested Trump’s brash exit, he told her, “You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what? Our country can never be great with a dishonest press.” He also stepped on his microphone on his way out.
Reporting from the studio on Sunday, Welker told viewers that she spoke to the president on Saturday, and that they “both acknowledged the complications during the interview posed by the rain.” She said Trump agreed to join her for another Meet the Press interview.
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Conversation20 Comments
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S
He is so nasty to women members of the press. He had his chance to prove his claims court and couldn’t. Welker Was just doing her job asking him for details. Instead he gave his usually insulting comments to a woman reporter. Rude!
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A
She takes the paycheck then do her job. She can’t take being treated rude then she needs to find another vocation. SOME women ( not nearly all) complain about not being treated equal to men. They are referring to all the good part. But when they get dealt the bad parts they whine about “being a woman”. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. You want the position you take the good, bad, and in between. I found out more about this story just today and I don’t have a bit of sympathy for Welker. Like her liberal left Comrades she was trying to entrap and shame the POTUS and he wasn’t having it. Good for him !! He was with her in a damp musky Barn for over an hour. He asked HER a legitimate question about Why she and her Fake News comrades don’t do ANY Investigating and Reporting on why Voting takes so long in CA. Her response: Oh that’s normal. Why ? Why is it “normal” ? This is 2026 !! We Know why, because the Left is so busy rigging the election like they did in 2020 !!
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J
Way to go, Kristen Welker!! Kudos to you for not crumbling, and not backing down. The man is a baby and can't stand criticism or honesty. The right is quick to call out "TDS" when someone criticizes this spoiled brat, but HE's the one who is deranged; he OBSESSED and can't let go of the 2020 election. And like any six-year-old, anytime he hears something he doesn't like or that isn't complimentary of him, he has a melt-down and throws a tantrum.
I think we should ALL go on social media and make a big deal of his upcoming birthday-- he's going to be EIGHTY YEARS OLD, which is OLD, and he's a grandfather, which he doesn't like to be reminded of. (He still sees himself as being about 40, and does NOT like any reminder that he's an OLD MAN.)
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A
I'm guessing Kaitlin Collins avoids confronting Trump on his asinine remarks about her not smiling is because she doesn't want to make a brouhaha of herself of making him close his press conference once and for all like he basically did in abruptly leaving Ms. Welker after her confrontation of him concerning the 2020 presidential election. Reminds me of when he did the same to Lesley Stahl during that "60 Minutes" interview though I didn't see that one, only heard of it...
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M
That man is softer than soft serve.
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J
Getting angry. Storming out of the interview. He's so emotional.
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A
No he’s just sick and tired of Fake News trying to slant EVERY thing he Says and Does to make it politically favorable to the Left. I don’t blame him for getting angry.
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A
In CA if the only person on the ticket were a Republican they couldn’t win !! 😳
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A
OK I read more about this on a more conservative site. This site and the MSM par for the course leave out Anything and Everything that might harm the Leftist narrative. They were talking about how Very slow the vote count is taking in CA. Welker chirped up and said “ Oh that’s normal”. Trump said Yeah normal because you folks won’t investigate it and report on it !! Then he said you know what I’ve had enough I’m done. And walked out ! She had him for Over an hour in a barn !! When he started to leave she said I traveled all the way here for this ! Like Her job is much more important than being POTUS !! Well excuse the President for inconveniencing your Fake News time !! I don’t blame the President even a little bit !! These people treat him like total trash Then expect hm to be all smiles and civil. And I Don’t Care what the Leftists comment here ! Joe Biden in the Rare instances he’d give a Two minute interview was treated Very, Very kindly by MSM. And they asked him kindergarten level questions. With Trump they ask the Scientific protocols for Iran disposing and cleaning up the enriched uranium !! President Trump in Both his terms has Never been treated fairly and with respect by MSM ! I’ll never forget Katie Couric talking about how handsome Obama was she was practically drooling ! MSM with the exception of a few like FOX and NewsMax is heavily slanted to the Left pure and simple.
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S
President Trump is right, with all this high advance technology the counting of vote should only take an hour. Or the assigned vote counter and the whole thing has been mismanaged from day one.
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A
Exactly
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S
machines ''glitching'' & not counting votes = cheating. the 3rd candidate suddenly becomes 1rst, is quite fishy too, so try to pull the other one that democRats aren't fraudsters/cheaters.
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A
Agree. The Republicans better be proactive and keeping a sharp eye !! These people will do Anything to win. That’s why they hate the Save America Act. And utterly despise any thought of Voter ID ! But they Love Love Mail in ballots and Ballot Drop Boxes ! They’ve already said many times they want to take control of the country By Any Means Necessary ! P.S. It’s exactly Why Biden Allowed all the Illegal Immigrants in and the Dems are fighting to Keep them here ! Even the Violent criminals. The Dems: Hey a vote is a vote, so he killed someone, he’s probably just misunderstood ! 😳
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A
"Hey a vote is a vote, so he killed someone, he's probably just misunderstood !" I'm sure Trump is thinking that about those J6ers as well. You know, the ones who stormed the capitol that day while he was still president but wouldn't be any longer since Biden would be sworn in a few weeks from that time...
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J
lol. Machines “glitching” sounds like something Musk would do, and maybe did do in 2024. 🤷♀️
Mail in votes are slower and later to count. Many seem to favor Democrats, which is really why Trump wants to ban them. But not counting them would be the bigger crime.
The bottom line is, there’s been NO EVIDENCE of significant voter fraud; but voter suppression is real.
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A
Mail in votes are one of the primary tools of liberal left tampering. They’re not fooling anyone but they’re own.
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A
He’s right. MSM Is crooked. They asked Biden tough, tough questions like what was his favorite flavor of ice cream, and which college basketball team he rooted for. With Trump they Always try to entrap him. And YES there were voting irregularities in the 2020 election but you’ll Never hear them on MSM ! Someone just asked yesterday about the Voter Drop Boxes in CA. Why couldn’t they just be mailed in with a prepaid envelope by regular U.S. Mail ? The drop boxes are just itching for fraud. In my home state the polls were supposed to close at 7:30 PM in Atlanta but they said due to “complications” they needed an extra 30 minutes. The so called complications were and still are Never explained. Even the Math for the 2020 elections is spurious. I don’t know the exact numbers and No I’m not gonna look them up right now. But for example they said Trump had 79 million votes and Biden had 82 million but it turned out that there were not that many registered voters to equal the combined numbers ! There will come a day that Trump’s complaints will be exonerated. But until then the GOP better have Eagle eyes on anything and everything concerning the elections ! Dems will sink to the deepest depths to win, nothing is to dirty for them to try to pull !
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J
Fox "News" is mainstream. OAN is mainstream. If you're implying that they're less than honest, I have to say I agree with that.
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A
I was referring to CBS, MSNBC, ABC, CNN. Though it seems CBS and CNN are at least trying to clean up their act.
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A
That's because both of those networks are now answering to the head of Paramount who happens to be close to Trump!
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