Donald Trump on NBC News’ Kristen Welker: ‘She’s Always Been Terrible and Unfair’
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon to criticize NBC News anchor Kristen Welker, who will be moderating the final presidential debate on Oct. 22.
“She’s always been terrible and unfair, just like most of the Fake News reporters, but I’ll still play the game,” Trump tweeted. “The people know! How’s Steve Scully doing?”
The president’s remarks stand in direct contrast to praise of Welker from one of his senior campaign staffers. “Look, I think I have a very high opinion of Kristen Welker. I think she’s going to do an excellent job as the moderator for the third debate,” said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign. “I think she’s a journalist whose very fair in her approach. And I think that she’ll be a very good choice for this third debate.”
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Trump’s tweet was in response to his son, Donald Trump Jr., who quote tweeted New York Post journalist Jon Levine’s latest story on how Welker has “deep Democrat ties.” “Yikes! Here we go again,” Trump Jr. tweeted, adding the eye roll emoji.
She’s always been terrible & unfair, just like most of the Fake News reporters, but I’ll still play the game. The people know! How’s Steve Scully doing? https://t.co/uS3EWzfFPy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2020
Trump was referring to C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully, who was suspended from his position as a political editor at C-SPAN on Thursday after he admitted to lying about his Twitter being hacked.
Welker currently serves as a White House correspondent for NBC News and a co-anchor of “Weekend Today” with Peter Alexander. She is a graduate of Harvard University and joined NBC News in 2010 as a correspondent based in California, and was promoted to her current White House correspondent position in 2011.
Trump’s public criticism of Welker comes just one day after he made several comments about NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, who moderated his town hall on NBC on Thursday. At his rally on Friday night in Macon, Ga., Trump said the questions Guthrie asked him regarding QAnon, white supremacy and his tax returns, were “unfair.” “Everybody thought it was so inappropriate,” Trump said. “Savannah — it was like her face, the anger, the craziness.”
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