U.S President Donald Trump walked out of an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker in Wisconsin after she pressed him to provide evidence to support his allegations of fraud in California’s gubernatorial elections. In the interview for the Sunday morning television talk show Meet the Press, Trump abrubtly ended the conversation and walked away, calling Welker a “liar” and “crooked”.
Trump had repeated his claims that the 2020 presidential elections were manipulated and said that “it’s happening again right now” in California.
“It’s four days and they aren’t even close to counting [ballots],” he said “Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.”
Welker asked the President to provide proof of his allegations to which he responded, “All I have to do is look.”
He then asked her, “Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?”
When the reporter pointed out that courts and election officials did not substantiate his claims, Trump replied, “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked. Your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.”
Trump maintained his stance as Welker tried to defend herself.
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this crap,” he said “You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.”
He also called out other news outlets, including ABC, CBS, and CNN, while claiming that the United States is “like a third-world country” when it comes to administering elections.
“And so is ABC, and CBS, and CNN. You’re one-sided, crooked networks,” said Trump “Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
Welkner tried to pursuade him to stay but the Republican leader got up, patted her on the arm, and walked off.
“A country can never be great with a dishonest press,” he said before he left.
