President Donald Trump on Sunday walked out of an interview with Meet The Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday over what he described as biased questions and consistent interruptions.
The interview, which took place during Trump’s campaign stop in Wisconsin over the weekend, covered a number of topics before it concluded early. The two discussed issues such as the Iran conflict, costs of living and the president’s proposed “weaponization fund” aimed at compensating victims of Biden-era prosecutorial overreach.
Tensions rose during discussion over the latter topic after Trump laid out his reasoning for proposing the fund. He indicated that individuals “hurt so badly by radical left lunatics” should receive compensation for the aggressive, unprecedented treatment of the Biden Administration’s political enemies while left-wing rioters frequently attack federal agents and are not prosecuted with the same fervor.
When asked specifically about participants in the January 6 protests who had “assaulted officers” — even though multiple angles of the event showed Capitol Police initiating the unrest by firing crowd control munitions into a peaceful crowd — added context about some individuals pleading guilty due to pressure and referenced involvement of undercover officers and federal agents.
“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,” the president said.
The conversation also turned tense on the topic of California’s ongoing elections, which are expected to take several weeks due to counting of mail-in voting. California’s weeks-long vote-counting process is among the longest in the industrialized world, with “vote drops” radically favoring one candidate or another the longer counting takes.
California’s process has been under the microscope primarily due to the Los Angeles mayoral race, as former reality TV star Spencer Pratt now appears poised to miss the runoff after seemingly clinching victory on Election Day. Pratt’s now evaporated lead was so wide that his opponent practically conceded before overwhelmingly winning several “vote drops.”
“The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it’s happening again right now in California,” Trump said in reference to the 2020 election and California’s current process. “It’s four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with the — do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.”
Welker responded that this did not constitute evidence, claiming that California’s mail-in voting system and counting procedures explain delays. Tensions rose as Welker continued to seek details, at which point Trump criticized the interview process for being overly hostile and biased.
The president then got up, removed his microphone, and indicated that the interview was over. Welker then pleaded with him to stay, stating that she travelled all the way to Wisconsin for the interview.
Trump then walked off the set as Welker continued to plead.
