Trump ends Meet the Press interview, later comments on the encounter, moderator says
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President Donald Trump abruptly left a Meet the Press interview after a dispute with moderator Kristen Welker and later made a conciliatory remark, according to Welker.
President Donald Trump walked out of a televised interview on Meet the Press after moderator Kristen Welker pressed him on claims that have been repeatedly disproved. During the exchange, Trump accused the program and several news networks of bias and said, “Let’s call it quits, because I’ve had enough.”
Welker told a Vanity Fair interview that she spoke with Trump the following morning. She said he did not repeat his exact words but conveyed a message along the lines of, “Look, the rain was disruptive. We’re going to do this again in Washington.”
Welker, who has covered Trump since his 2015 campaign, said she expects a degree of hostility from the former president. > “I’ve covered President Trump since 2015 when he was a candidate, and it doesn’t faze me at all. It’s part of the conversation. I anticipate it to some extent,” she said.
She added that her focus remains on the substance of her questions and obtaining answers for the public. > “I try to stay focused on the content of my questions and on getting answers. Because that’s my goal, particularly in a presidential interview—to have that amount of time with a president. My goal is to get answers on behalf of the American people,” she said.
The interview, conducted at a barn in Wisconsin, turned contentious when Welker asked Trump for evidence of alleged election rigging. Trump responded, “All I have to do is look,” and later called both Welker and the network “crooked.” He then ended the interview, saying, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
Days earlier, Trump had criticized CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins in a separate encounter, describing the network as corrupt and commenting on Collins’ demeanor.