'Conspiracy theories with no evidence': CNN anchor slams Trump for his 'Meet the Press' claims

Before President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, he made a series of controversial comments and strong claims about the Iran war, the Jan 6 riots, gas prices, and election integrity. When pressed for evidence, Trump lashed out at the journalist and 'Meet the Press', calling the media either "stupid" or “crooked” like the elections. Reacting to some of the claims, CNN's anchor Jake Tapper came out in defense of Welker, slamming the President for pushing "conspiracy theories" with "zero evidence."

During the interview, Trump defended his first-term decision to end the Iran Nuclear Deal, claiming it was necessary. He then made claims of Iran's military capabilities being obliterated, something NBC fact-checked and found to be exaggerated. However, two of his claims, over the ongoing California elections being rigged and the Jan 6 rioters being ushered by FBI agents, particularly seemed to stem from conspiracy theories. Thus, taking to X, Tapper pointed out, "That is some wild, unhinged stuff from the President." He then praised Welker for her patience and added that "we have a president who constantly pushes conspiracy theories with zero evidence and can't respond when politely challenged on that." 

While defending the Justice Department's proposed $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, Trump was asked if he thinks anyone who attacked the police during the January 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol should get a payment. "I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to see it," Trump said. When Welker pressed with the fact that 170 rioters had pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers, Trump quickly claimed, "They pled guilty because they were frightened. They went down. They were ushered into a building," before adding, "They had FBI agents ushering them into the building." 

The claim is seemingly untrue as several reports suggest that there is no evidence of any FBI special agents ushering rioters into the Capitol building. According to a report from the Justice Department's inspector general, there were four FBI confidential human sources, or informants, present during the riots, and they entered the building on their own accord and weren't directed to do so by the bureau. The report also found that the FBI tasked three informants to report on domestic terrorism suspects who were potentially at the events in Washington, D.C. at the time, but no other agent was instructed to perform any task on the day.  

Trump's second claim of the California elections being rigged raises concerns, as there is no evidence of it, either. Since the state's slow vote counting has frustrated political observers, Trump found the opportunity to claim "election rigging." "The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it's happening again right now in California," Trump said, referring to the 2020 presidential elections. "It's four days, and they aren't even close to coming up with the result. Do you know why they're doing that? Because they're cheating on the election," he claimed. When pressed for evidence, the President said, "All I have to do is look. And I listen. I listen to people."

However, experts say California's system is working as designed, as it relies on mail-in voting and multi-step verifications to prevent fraud. Over 80% of California's voters cast a ballot by mail in recent elections, which are postmarked by election day and can be accepted up to a week afterward. These ballots carry signatures of voters, which are validated electronically and by human observers, according to The Guardian. For erroneous ballots, the state gives voters 22 days to "cure" them, resulting in an accurate and oversight-resistant system that is slow.