President Donald Trump's outbursts at the end of his "Meet the Press" interview, where he called Kristen Welker "crooked" and "stupid," were treated as rude, even unglued. Somehow the offended Trump haters never seem to realize that they call Trump "crooked," "stupid" and worse about twice an hour on news programs.
One reason for Trump's anger is he has granted access on an almost daily basis, unlike his predecessor. How many times did "Meet the Press" hosts Kristen Welker or Chuck Todd interview President Joe Biden? Never. Todd interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022, and his idea of a tough question was, "What is a semi-fascist?" (Biden had used that phrase for Republicans.) Todd also asked Harris, "Would you call the border secure?" and accepted her "Yes."
In this new interview with Trump, Welker began with a pretty standard NBC interview with Trump, respectful but strongly challenging his record. Trump called Welker "a big liberal" when she started prodding him for campaigning in 2024 on "no new wars." Welker was right on the facts, and so was Trump: Welker's as liberal as all the other "mainstream" media moderators on Sunday.
At the end, Welker was pressuring the president on the foiled plan for an "anti-weaponization fund," and that's where it really went south. Welker tried to get Trump to agree that anyone who assaulted a police officer on Jan. 6 shouldn't get compensated, but she also broke out the "no evidence" insult.
Trump talked about the "dirty cops" of the Biden administration and all of their prosecutions of Trump, his appointees and his supporters: "What they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong."
Welker felt the need to claim, "Just to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying." There's no evidence that anyone was ever sent to jail for doing nothing wrong? Trump didn't add specifics, but replied: "There's tremendous evidence. There's nothing but evidence." Welker replied: "Well, it's not been presented in a court of law."
Trump didn't use any specifics, but he referred broadly not just to Jan. 6 but the Russian collusion probes. She asserted there was "no evidence" that anyone was ever jailed or even damaged in all of the prosecutions and investigations. Biden's Justice Department charged almost 1,600 people in association with Jan. 6. How can Welker know what happened to all of those cases in courts of law? Has she ever tried? This is why the "no evidence" claim is infuriating. It sounds dismissively partisan.
Welker has probably never engaged with the case of Rebecca Lavrenz, known as the "praying grandma" of Jan. 6. Lavrenz entered the Capitol and walked around for 10 minutes. She wasn't violent, carried no weapons and caused no property damage. Biden's prosecutors wanted 10 months behind bars. Why?
She wasn't put in jail, but in 2024, Judge Zia Faruqui sentenced Lavrenz to six months of home confinement and a $103,000 fine -- based on her making "offensive" comments about the criminal justice system. These prosecutions and rulings suggested that Trump fans -- "election deniers" -- didn't have the freedom of speech to criticize the Biden team. That feels like weaponized justice.
Partisan journalists like Welker treat every assertion of Biden weaponizing the justice system as part of "The Big Lie," melting into the rhetorical magma with 2020 election denial and praise for Jan. 6 rioters. They reserve the accusations of "no evidence" or "without evidence" almost exclusively for Republicans. They didn't tell Harris there was "no evidence" the border was secure. That would apparently be rude.
Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member