US President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview after he was challenged about his claims of election fraud in the California primaries.
Trump clashed with Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet The Press, saying the journalist must be “crooked or stupid” as he became visibly frustrated by questions about election fraud.
The confrontation came at the end of an interview conducted in a barn under loud rainfall during Trump’s pre-midterms visit to Wisconsin, a crucial state for both parties that he won in 2024.
Pushed on his unsubstantiated claims of “rigged elections” and voter fraud, Trump snapped: “The elections are like a third world country.
Removing and tossing his lapel microphone, he said: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. Let’s call it quits. Because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling.”
Trump then briefly continued arguing with Welker before walking off.
Republicans have criticised the days-long counting process in California’s primary races. Last week, late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots continued to reduce the vote totals for the President’s preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor.
Trump weighed in again at the end of last week while participating in a roundtable discussion in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, claiming without evidence that Democrats were rigging the election.
He said: “You look at what’s happening, it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter. And the people who were supposed to win, bad things are happening. It’s a crooked state.”
Trump has often said that late ballots were a sign of fraud, when they are merely a reflection of more Democrat ballots being counted later due to mail-in voting.
He has announced that the Department of Justice was investigating the Californian count.
It is not the first time Trump’s justice department has taken an interest in California elections. In autumn 2025, it sent observers to monitor polling sites in five counties, including Los Angeles, during the special election asking voters to change California’s congressional map.
Because Democrats usually vote by mail and hold onto their ballots unusually late in the crowded primary, their votes are often tallied after those of Republicans who might have cast ballots early.
The net effect is that Republican candidates appear to be winning on election night, only to see their leads whittled away in the days or weeks that follow.
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