Trump Storms Out of Meet the Press Interview After Being Challenged on Election Lies: "You Are Either Crooked or You're Stupid"

On June 5, 2026, President Trump sat for a taped interview with NBC's Kristen Welker for Meet the Press, filmed on a farm in Wisconsin with a tractor and hay bales as backdrop. The interview aired on Sunday, June 8. It ended with Trump ripping off his microphone and walking away.

The Iran exchange

Welker reminded Trump of his campaign promise of "no wars." His response:

"First of all, I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?"

He then defended the war's duration:

"I don't like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We've been doing this for three months."

NBC's fact-check noted that his own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard — before being forced out — testified in March 2025 that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was building nuclear weapons. NBC also challenged Trump's claim that the U.S. had completely dismantled Iran's navy, air force, and anti-aircraft capabilities — approximately half of Iran's unconventional naval fleet remains operational.

When Trump was pressed on surging gas prices, he said: "If we sign an agreement, it'll go down now. Otherwise, they'll go down after we're finished." NBC cited oil executives cautioning that restoring Middle East production and lowering gas prices "will take time" regardless of any deal.

The January 6 payouts

Despite his administration officially killing the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund days earlier, Trump went on the record defending compensation for January 6 rioters:

"People like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden… they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong."

He said many people prosecuted over January 6 "should be compensated" on a case-by-case basis. This is the president — on camera, after his administration just dropped the fund — saying the rioters who beat police officers at the Capitol deserve to be paid.

The California election

Trump claimed that both the 2020 presidential election and the California primary held the previous week were "rigged." Late-tallied mail ballots had eaten into the leads of Trump-backed candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor — a routine feature of California's slow vote-counting process, not evidence of fraud.

Welker asked for evidence. Trump's answer:

"All I have to do is look, and I listen."

That is the president's evidentiary standard for claiming an American election was stolen: he looked, and he listened.

The walkout

Welker pressed further: "There is no evidence for what you're saying."

Trump's response:

"You are either crooked or you're stupid."

He then stood up:

"You're a one-sided, crooked network. Sorry. Let's call it quits because I've had enough."

As he removed his microphone and walked off camera:

"Thank you, darling. Have a good time."

The president of the United States called a journalist stupid for asking him to provide evidence, then walked off a television interview because he couldn't.

NBC's fact-check

After the interview aired, NBC published a detailed fact-check identifying multiple false, misleading, or exaggerated claims Trump made during the truncated conversation:

• False: that he never promised "no wars" — he did, repeatedly, during the 2024 campaign
• Exaggerated: that the U.S. had completely destroyed Iran's military capabilities — half the unconventional naval fleet remains operational
• False: that the California primary was "rigged" — the slow count reflects mail ballot processing, not fraud
• Misleading: that gas prices would drop immediately with a deal — oil executives say recovery will take time

The approval numbers

The walkout came as Trump's approval hit record lows:

• 34% in the YouGov/Economist poll — the lowest of either term
• 38.6% in the aggregate — below his own first-term floor of 37%
• -21 net approval among men — a 37-point swing from +16 at the start of his second term
• 34% among independents — below the 36% that preceded Democrats' 41-seat wave in 2018
• 80-point partisan gap between Republican (87%) and Democratic (7%) approval — the widest ever recorded

He began his second term at 47%. He is now at 34%. He started a war no one wanted, created a slush fund so corrupt his own party killed it, granted himself permanent tax immunity, compared a pool to skyscrapers, posted AI images of himself on a space station, and walked off a television interview because a journalist asked him for evidence. The numbers reflect the presidency.