DONALD Trump said the US was "like a third-world country" and stormed out of an interview after being challenged on his false claims that the 2020 presidential election – which he lost to Joe Biden – was “crooked”.
The Republican leader had been speaking to NBC’s Kristen Welker for an edition of its “Meet the Press” when he became agitated at the questioning.
“Listen to me, there’s nothing but evidence, the election was rigged,” Trump said. “It was a dirty election and it's happening again right now in California.”
Welker said that the US president had “never presented evidence that the 2020 election was rigged”.
She said that his Republican party was “doing well” in California, leading Trump to respond: “No, they're not. They're dropping fast because it's a rigged election.”
He claimed that because votes are taking days to count, the Democrats must be “cheating”, but Welker said that’s “how they count the votes in California”.
After being pushed again for evidence, Trump said: “All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look and I listen and I listen to people and let's see what happens.”
The US president then claimed NBC and Welker were “crooked”, which she denied.
He responded: “Really? Well, you play right into their hands. You're either crooked or you're stupid.”
Trump then said that the US was “like a third-world country”, going on: “Your elections are crooked and you're crooked and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked and so is ABC and CBS and CNN.
“You’re one-sided crooked networks so let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough.”
Asked to remain, Trump said he had “sat in the rain with you for an hour … and I’ve given you enough time”.
Speaking on NBC after the interview, Welker said that the rain had caused issues with the interview, and that Trump had agreed to sit down for another.
