Trump touts ‘Meet the Press’ interview with Kristen Welker -latest news

Republican firebrand Lauren Boebert has come under fire from her own party after she and her date were caught on video fondling each other in a crowded theatre last weekend before being kicked out.

Footage captured the Colorado congresswoman’s heavy petting with her rumoured boyfriend as they attended a showing of “Beetlejuice” in Denver on 10 September. The pair were ejected for “causing a disturbance”.

Several within her own party criticised the lawmaker’s behaviour as hypocritical, given her opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, like furthering claims that drag performances will expose children to lewd sexual acts. She wrote last June, “Take your children to CHURCH, not drag bars.”

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker closed out Sunday’s show by asking Peter Baker, New York Times White House correspondent, to explain the reasoning for interviewing Donald Trump and why it has news value.

“This is a huge challenge for American journalists, of course, right? It cannot be that a person can run for president of the United States, be a front-runner in his party, and possibly win without ever being challenged by a tough, independent interviewer. And that’s, I think, an important part of our system,” said Baker.

“Now, obviously the challenge for us because he is just going to spout out one thing after another, and fact check in real-time, is a real hard thing. But what you’ve done here is edit it and make sure people understand what he’s what’s real.”

The anger comes from giving a platform to the former president’s lies, with accusations that the interview is “normalising a maniac”.

In promoting the interview, the show’s newly-appointed moderator Kristen Welker has also been accused of “whitewashing Trump’s depravity” with social media users asking “Is it 2015?” and “What is wrong with you, NBC?”

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined in an interview aired Sunday to answer questions about whether he watched the Capitol riot unfold on television, saying he would “tell people later at an appropriate time.”

Trump, the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, refused to say on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” how he spent Jan. 6, 2021, once the insurrection began and whether he made phone calls as his supporters stormed the seat of American democracy.

“I’m not going to tell you. I’ll tell people later at an appropriate time,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker after she asked if he spent that afternoon watching the attack on television in a dining room at the White House.

Trump’s former aides have said he sequestered himself in the room off the Oval Office to watch, at times even rewinding and rewatching some parts.

The alleged meeting between Mr Trump and House Republican leadership was said to have taken place before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a formal impeachment inquiry into the president.

However, speaking to NBC’s Kristen Welker “Meet the Press” in an interview aired Sunday, Mr Trump said he didn’t “have to talk” to anyone about supporting the inquiry because “they’re more proactive than I am”.

Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I want to thank the great Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, who served as Judge in the Ken Paxton Trial, and the Republican State Senators, for showing great Professionalism and Fairness.”

“Attorney General Paxton was fully acquitted on all 16 Impeachment Articles brought by the Texas Republican House. It is time that Speaker Dade Phelan resign after pushing this Disgraceful Sham!” he added.

“Congratulations to Attorney General Ken Paxton on a great and historic Texas sized VICTORY. I also want to congratulate his wonderful wife and family for having had to go through this ordeal, and WINNING!”

The former president also reposted a meme from a follower…

While Donald Trump was happily promoting this morning’s upcoming interview on Meet The Press with a 1.39am post on Truth Social, there are calls for a boycott of NBC News’s banner political Sunday morning show.

The anger comes from an apparent lack of pushback on the former president’s lies from newly-appointed host Kristen Welker, with accusations that the interview is “normalizing a maniac”.

In promoting the interview, Welker has also been accused of “whitewashing Trump’s depravity” with X users asking “Is it 2015?” and “What is wrong with you, NBC?”