Trump Ends NBC Interview as Welker Presses Him on Election Claims and Fund

President Trump ended an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” abruptly when moderator Kristen Welker pressed him for evidence for his claims about California’s vote count and on his defense of a scrapped Justice Department fund, the Associated Press reported. The interview, taped Friday on a farm in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, aired Sunday.

On Iran, Trump dismissed the suggestion that launching the war betrayed his “no new wars” campaign message. “First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” he said, adding that as a candidate, “I didn’t promise anything.” He said the conflict, which began Feb. 28, is not “endless”: “We’ve been doing this for three months.” He said he was “doing the world a service” by stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon, while also repeating that U.S. strikes last year “obliterated” Iranian nuclear sites, a contradiction the AP noted. He also defended his first-term decision to withdraw from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, the AP said, without having negotiated the “better deal” he has promised.

He defended plans for the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which the Justice Department says it has abandoned. Trump called it “a great idea” and said he would be “disappointed” if it were not approved. Asked whether people who attacked police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, should get a payout, he said, “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it,” and then made claims about the riot that the AP called false and unfounded. The fund drew objections from Democrats and some Republicans, the AP noted.

On California, Trump repeated claims, made without evidence, that Democrats are rigging the state’s count from Tuesday’s primary. Late-tallied, Democratic-leaning mail ballots have cut into the totals for Trump’s preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor, the AP said, a result of California’s slow counting rather than evidence of fraud. The Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday that his office had opened “multiple election fraud investigations.” Trump kept describing the count as “cheating” and “a rigged election.” As Welker pressed him for evidence, he said, “All I have to do is look.”

As Welker pressed on the fund and the California claims, Trump raised his voice, called her and the media “crooked,” and said, “Let’s call it quits.” He took off his microphone and told her, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.” The interview had been repeatedly interrupted by heavy rain on the metal roof of the barn where it was taped. Welker said afterward that Trump agreed to a second interview, with no date set, according to NBC affiliate coverage.