US President Donald Trump has stormed out of an interview with ‘Meet the Press’ host Kristen Welker after a heated exchange over his election-fraud claims.
“You’re crooked, your press is crooked and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” the visibly annoyed Republican said. Before ending the sit-down with the NBC News anchor on Saturday, Trump also slammed several other mainstream media outlets, including ABC, CBS, and CNN, describing them as “one-sided crooked networks.”
The interview took a tense turn after Trump alleged that the California primary elections earlier this week were marred by fraud. He cited the state’s protracted vote-counting process, suggesting that the vote had been “rigged” to eliminate Republican contenders.
Unlike many other US states, California uses so-called ‘jungle primaries,’ in which candidates from all parties compete on the same ballot to advance to the general election.
Welker noted that “that’s how they count the votes in California,” adding that local officials have acknowledged that the process is “slow.” Trump fired back by accusing NBC and other media outlets of “playing right into their hands with this cp,” and telling Welker that she was “either crooked or you’re stupid.”
“Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” the president said, appearing to remove his microphone.
Welker’s attempts to talk Trump out of leaving proved futile, with the president grumbling: “I sat in the rain with you for an hour.”
“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,” Trump said before walking off.
Trump has a history of contentious relations with the press, routinely using a number of derogatory epithets when referring to journalists. Aside from liberal-leaning mainstream media outlets, the president has recently lashed out at several conservative media figures. That includes prominent podcaster Tucker Carlson, who criticized Trump’s war on Iran.