Wisconsin: US president Donald Trump lost his cool and left an interview with a major media channel midway after being questioned about his claims that elections in California were rigged.
Before storming out, the Republican leader also accused other major media channels of bias and spreading a false narrative.
Trump was answering questions at NBC’s Meet the Press when this happened. The exchange with anchor Kristen Welker began with a discussion about California’s vote-counting process and ended with Trump walking out of the interview after calling the journalist “crooked” and “stupid”.
The situation escalated as Welker pressed the president for evidence supporting his allegations of election fraud during the nationally televised interview.
Trump had referred to the pace of vote counting in California when it all started. “It’s four days, and they aren’t even close to coming up with the results,” he said.
California’s extended vote-counting process was part of the state’s established system for tallying ballots, Welker responded.
The president, however, asserted that the delay was evidence of wrongdoing. “Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating in the election,” he said.
When asked whether he had any evidence to support the allegation, he said: “All I have to do is look”, adding that he listens to people.
There was “no evidence” of rigged elections in the United States, Welker insisted. Without providing any evidence, Trump questioned whether it was appropriate for vote
counting to continue several days after polling.
“Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?” he asked.
The process was slow but said California officials were working to improve it, the anchor replied.
Things then took a turn for the worse with Trump launching a tirade against the media.
He accused California election officials of being “crooked” and extended the criticism to Welker and several news organisations. “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” he said, as reported by News18.
The president also described the United States as being “like a third-world country” when it comes to running elections.
“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker responded. Trump then replied: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.”
He then went on to accuse NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and other media organisations of being biased. “Your elections are crooked, and you’re crooked and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” he said.
Trump ended the interview as the exchange got more intense.
“Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” he said, before removing his microphone and threw it to the ground.
When reminded by Welker that she had travelled to Wisconsin for the interview, Trump replied, “I sat in the rain with you for an hour.”
Trump said he had already given enough time and urged the media to “straighten out” its coverage, even as the anchor attempted to continue the discussion.
This is not for the first time that the US president had a run-in with the press. Days before the NBC interview, Trump criticised CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins during a separate press event, describing CNN as “a very corrupt organisation”.
“She’s a young, beautiful woman who never smiles. I see her standing with hatred in her eyes,” he said, referring to Collins.
He also told Collins to “be quiet” after she noted that Republicans had themselves criticised a Department of Justice fund under which those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot could have been eligible for payments.