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US President Donald Trump prematurely ended an interview with Meet the Press on the news channel NBC on Sunday, after being repeatedly confronted with critical questions about his claims of election fraud. The interview was initially calm but escalated when Trump was asked for evidence of what he claimed.
Tensions rose when the conversation shifted to a planned $1.8 billion compensation fund for people Trump said were victims of "politicized prosecutions." Trump indicated that he still wants to implement this fund and did not rule out that those convicted of the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol would also be eligible. He claimed that these rioters had been lured in by corrupt cops and pleaded guilty under pressure, but no evidence exists for this.
When Welker contradicted this and referred to investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, Trump departed from his well-known assertion that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen". He also suggested ,without evidence, that fraud is occurring in recent primaries in California. Welker indicated that the slow count there could be explained by the large number of mail ballots, which by law are allowed to come in later and be counted.
The interview was completely derailed when Welker continued to insist on concrete evidence. Trump accused her and the media of corruption, calling her "dishonest" and "stupid". He eventually ended the interview abruptly, unplugged his microphone and left the set saying that he had had enough and that a country cannot be great with a dishonest press.
According to Welker, she still tried to get him to stay, but without success. Afterwards, Trump reportedly did promise to give another interview, although it is not clear when that will take place. Both NBC and the White House gave no further comment for now.
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