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President Trump in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker. The president grew angry and walked out, calling Welker “crooked.”<\/p>\n
NBC News<\/p>\n
An angry Donald Trump walked out of an interview with NBC\u2019s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after an extraordinary exchange in which the president angrily insisted\u2014without offering any proof\u2014that \u201celections are crooked and you\u2019re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked\u2026and so is ABC and CBS and CNN.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201cweaponization fund\u201d to compensate people who believe they were unfairly targeted by a federal government \u201cweaponizing\u201d the justice system against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was up to me, I\u2019d pay them the kind of money that they deserve,\u201d Trump said. \u201cPeople have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think of it. People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Where\u2019s The Evidence?\u2019<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the weaponization fund,\u201d Trump said as he shifted to comment on the news media and Welker. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Trump has long accused the news media of being \u201ccrooked\u201d or \u201cfake news\u201d<\/a> and even \u201cenemies of the people,\u201d but has rarely done so in such an angry and personal way, as Welker, who remained calm and professional despite the president\u2019s personal criticisms, repeatedly pressed Trump to back up his sensational claims:<\/p>\n PRES. DONALD TRUMP: The election was rigged. It was a dirty election.KRISTEN WELKER: Mr. President \u2013PRES. DONALD TRUMP: And it’s happening again right now in California.KRISTEN WELKER: \u2013 you’ve never presented evidence \u2013PRES. DONALD TRUMP: It\u2019s happening right now in CaliforniaKRISTEN WELKER: \u2013 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 \u2013KRISTEN 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 \u2013KRISTEN 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 \u2013 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.\u2018To Be Fair, I\u2019m Not Crooked\u2019<\/p>\n When Trump insisted\u2014again, without any evidence\u2014that the slow counting of votes in California indicated election fraud, Welker pushed back, saying \u201cbut sir, that\u2019s not evidence, and that\u2019s how they count the votes in California.\u201d<\/p>\n This seemed to make the president even angrier, calling Welker \u201ccrooked,” which she immediately responded to. \u201cTo be fair, I\u2019m not crooked,\u201d Welker said. \u201cBut let\u2019s continue.\u201d<\/p>\n