President Donald Trump abruptly left the recording set during an interview broadcast this Sunday on the program “Meet the Press” from NBC, after insulting the host Kristen Welker and accusing several television networks of being corrupt.
The interview had been recorded the previous week in a barn on a farm in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where the sound of heavy rain on the metal roof interrupted the conversation several times.
Trump lashed out at Welker with the phrase: "You are corrupt or you are stupid," after accusing, without providing any evidence, that the elections in the United States are rigged.
Before getting up and leaving, the president also attacked the networks NBC, CBS, and ABC: "They are corrupt just like you are corrupt, your press is corrupt. And Meet the Press is corrupt."
Welker calmly replied, "To be fair, I am not corrupt. But let's move on."
Trump did not accept the invitation: "Let's leave it here because I've had enough," he said, parting with a "Thank you, darling. Have a good time."
The host, who is the second woman and the first Black journalist to lead the longest-running political program on American television, maintained her composure throughout the entire sequence of insults.
In April, when Welker interviewed the Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel in Havana, he reacted with annoyance to one of her questions and even questioned the legitimacy of the journalist.
When asked if he would be willing to resign to save Cuba, Díaz-Canel replied, "Do they ask that question to Trump?" and suggested that the inquiry might be coming from the U.S. State Department.
The interview with Trump covered several significant topics, including the war between the United States and Israel against Iran, which this Sunday marked 100 days since its start on February 28.
Trump defended the conflict as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and denied having promised during his campaign to end wars abroad.
When Welker asked him about the rising costs of gas and fertilizers due to the war, the president interrupted her: "Are you ready? Am I allowed to speak? You keep asking questions and aren’t listening to the answers." He added that prices would drop once the conflict is over.
Regarding the "anti-weaponization" fund of $1.776 billion created by the Department of Justice to compensate individuals who claim to have been unjustly persecuted —including participants in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot— Trump stated that "people have been destroyed by corrupt police and by weaponization" and that "many of those people should be compensated."
However, a federal judge temporarily blocked the fund last month, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the administration would not move forward with it after receiving criticism from both parties.
The episode is part of a documented pattern of verbal attacks by Trump against female journalists. In November 2025, he told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey, "Silence. Silence, piglet."
In December of that year, he described the ABC reporter Rachel Scott as "the most detestable reporter in the whole place."
Last month, he called the reporter Akayla Gardner a "fool" for pointing out that the cost of the White House ballroom project had doubled.
He has also repeatedly criticized Kaitlan Collins from CNN for not smiling enough.
Despite the tense outcome, Welker informed her viewers that Trump had agreed to sit down with her again: "He agreed to meet with me for another interview on Meet the Press," she said, after revealing that they had a cordial conversation on Saturday in which they "acknowledged the complications" caused by the rain.
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