Trump Cuts Off Interview With ‘Meet The Press’ Host Kristen Welker

Donald Trump cut an interview off with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, amid a verbal back-and-forth as she challenged him for evidence of claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that there are vote-counting shenanigans now occurring in California.

“You’re a one-sided crooked network,” Trump said in the interview, which aired on Sunday. “Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

After taking off his mic, he exchanged a few more words with Welker before getting up and leaving.

The much-promoted interview took place during Trump’s trip to Wisconsin on Friday.

The president appeared to get increasingly irritated at Welker as he tried to defend a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that had been set up by the Justice Department as part of a settlement of his lawsuit with the IRS. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers last week that the DOJ would be backing off of the fund, amid bipartisan opposition to the idea.

In the interview, Trump defended the fund, and declined to definitely say whether those convicted of assaulting police officers in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 would have been eligible for compensation.

Welker asked, “Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money?”

Trump said, “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, cause you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop.”

Welker then said that there was “no evidence” of that claim, and that 170 people pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. She again pointed out that there was “no evidence” when Trump suggested that the January 6th attack was an inside job orchestrated by the FBI.

Trump said, “They pled guilty because they were frightened. They went down. They were ushered into a building. Many of them were arrested without even going into the building.”

Welker asked, “You’d be okay with them receiving taxpayer dollars?”

Trump responded, “The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated. Now, with that being said, the, as I understand it, the weaponization fund was going to set up a group of people, people that could be picked by anybody, fair people, smart people, and they will go on an individual case basis.”

As Welker continued to point out that there was “no evidence,” Trump insisted that there was “tremendous” evidence. Then he said, “The election was rigged. It was a dirty election.”

Welker challenged him again on the lack of evidence, and when he claimed that election rigging was going in California. The state is still in the midst of counting votes in its primary election, but officials say that it is due to rules that allow for an influx of mail ballots being processed.

As she pressed Trump on evidence for California’s election being rigged, he said, “All I have to do is look.”

Welker said, “But sir, that’s not evidence, and that’s how they count the votes in California.”

After some more back and forth, Trump said, “They’re 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 responded.

Trump’s irritation only grew. “Your elections are crooked and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked.”

Welker tried to get a word in.

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.”

As Welker noted that she traveled all the way to Wisconsin, Trump noted, “I sat in the rain with you for an hour. On and off in the rain, and I’ve given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what? A country can never be great with a dishonest press.”

“We traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview,” Welker said.