WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump lashed out at NBC News
journalist Kristen Welker and announced his intention to file a complaint
against her with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after she
described the performance of some of the president's endorsed candidates in the
recent primary elections as "mixed results."
Trump expressed his displeasure in a post on Truth Social,
where he accused Welker of presenting what he called a "willful
misrepresentation" and asked the FCC to consider some form of reprimand or
sanction against the journalist.
The president defended his record of political endorsements
and maintained that his candidates have achieved high victory rates.
Specifically, he claimed that his endorsements were 100% effective in the Senate
races and 98% effective in the House primaries.
The controversy arose after Welker commented, during a
pre-show segment for "Meet the Press," that Trump would have a
significant influence on the November midterm elections, even though his recent
endorsements had yielded "mixed results." The comment was not made
during the main broadcast of the program, but rather in a pre-show segment
aired on NBC's Washington affiliate.
NBC News defended its reporter, stating that Welker is
"one of the best" professionals at the network and expressing its
support for her journalistic work, although the audience has expressed
disagreement with that statement.