President Donald Trump abruptly ended a live interview with NBC’s Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday, calling her dishonest and walking off the set after a contentious exchange over a range of contested claims – adding the confrontation to a lengthy history of mid-interview exits stretching back decades.

The interview, conducted in Wisconsin, began as a wide-ranging sit-down but came to a head in its final six minutes when Welker repeatedly challenged the president’s statements on Trump’s stalled anti-weaponization fund, the January 6 Capitol riot, and claims of election fraud in California.

Welker opened the final segment by pressing Trump on whether he was abandoning the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund – a proposal that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had indicated the administration was walking back. Trump offered a lengthy defense of the fund’s purpose, describing supporters as victims of what he characterized as politically motivated prosecutions under the previous administration.

“People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden administration,” Trump said. “They’ve lost their jobs, their families, their wives. They’ve lost everything over a fake weaponization of government.”

Welker pressed the president on whether the fund would cover individuals convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6 riot, noting that 170 people had pleaded guilty to that charge. Trump disputed the characterization, claiming FBI agents had directed rioters into the Capitol building – an assertion Welker challenged as unsupported by evidence.

The exchange grew increasingly heated as Trump moved to claims of ongoing election fraud in California, calling state officials “crooked” and pointing to a delayed vote count as evidence. When Welker asked for specific evidence, Trump replied, “All I have to do is look.”
“That’s not evidence,” Welker replied.

As the back-and-forth intensified, Trump turned his criticism directly on Welker and NBC. “Your elections in this country are like a third world country,” he said. “You’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.”

“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” Trump then said, rising from his seat. “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

Welker urged him to stay, noting she had traveled to Wisconsin specifically for the sit-down. “I’ve sat in the rain with you for an hour,” Trump replied as he departed. “A country can never be great with a dishonest press.”

Sunday’s walkout was not the first time Trump has cut short a media interview. In October 2020, he abruptly ended a sit-down with CBS’s Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes, complaining the questions were unfair, and later released his own unedited recording of the session. That same year, he terminated a CNN interview on the coronavirus pandemic, unhooking his microphone and tossing it on a table.

The pattern predates his political career. In 1990, Trump walked out of a CNN interview with reporter Charles Feldman when questions turned to doubts about the financial stability of his Atlantic City casinos. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he ended an interview with an Ohio television reporter after she raised accusations of racism against him.