The Trump Meet the Press interview that spun out of control after he was probed about his ‘rigged elections’ conspiracies

By Brentin Mock

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump erupted into a diatribe about rigged elections during a segment with Meet the Press journalist Kristin Welker, which led to him abruptly abandoning the interview. 

In the nearly one-hour talk in a Wisconsin barn, which was paused several times due to rain, Welker pressed Trump about several topics ranging from the Iran war, to his controversial weaponization fund and the miserable economy. 

However, it was the topic of elections that sent him into a tailspin, causing him to blurt out conspiratorial statements about both the 2020 election and the primary election presently unfolding in California.

“The election was rigged,” said Trump, visibly frustrated. “It was a dirty election, and it’s happening again right now in California.”

When Welker pushed back saying that no evidence had been presented about thrown elections, Trump doubled down. 

“It’s four days, and they aren’t even close, because they’re cheating on the election,” said Trump in the interview, which was recorded on Friday. 

As California election officials continue their routine ballot counting and auditing, which normally takes a longer time to finish in the country’s most populous state, Trump has been falsely claiming that this is evidence of voter fraud on social media.

California takes longer not only due to its large population, but also because of its extraordinary volume of mail-in ballots, which may be accepted up to seven days after Election Day, so long as they’re postmarked by that day. 

But on the day of Trump’s Meet the Press interview, one of his handpicked federal prosecutors announced that his office was investigating multiple allegations of voter fraud, seemingly based on little else than concerns about the long vote-counting duration.

When Welker attempted to explain California election officials’ process, Trump interrupted her by repeating, “They’re crooked” – even extending the accusation to Welker herself. 

“When you play right into their hands, you’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Walker. “You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged. You know that I won an election in a landslide, and I got 94% bad press, because you have no credibility.”

Trump won the 2024 popular vote by a margin that was less than 2% — roughly 77.3 million to Harris’s 75.2 million.

Welker was trying to ask Trump about his interim Attorney General Todd Blanche when Trump decided to leave the interview.  

Before the discussion went awry, Trump made several controversial comments about the now-defunct $1.8 weaponization fund, which was shut down after a judge opened a probe into whether the fund was created by defrauding a court. 

Trump wouldn’t rule out awarding rioters who attacked police officers in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, saying, “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I’d have to see it.”