Kristen Welker Interviews Donald Trump in Meet the Press Debut — Watch

Kristen Welker made her Meet the Press debut on Sunday, replacing outgoing host Chuck Todd.

“We begin this new chapter of Meet the Press after yet another extraordinary week,” Welker said at the top of the hour before introducing her pre-taped interview with former president Donald Trump, his first with a broadcast network since leaving office.

Welker’s interview with Trump addressed everything from abortion to Ukraine and a government shutdown. The former president said he doesn’t consider the U.S. to “have much of a democracy right now.”

At one point, the NBC news talk show host asked if Trump worries about going to jail before falling asleep at night.

“I don’t even think about it,” Trump said. “These are corrupt people that I’m dealing with. They’re destroying our country. I don’t even think about it.”

He called his indictments “banana republic indictments” and “third world indictments.”

Later, Trump claimed he needed “22 thousand votes” in each state to have won the 2020 election, seemingly acknowledging he lost to President Biden. But when Welker asked if he was finally admitting defeat, Trump continued to falsely claim that he won.

NBC says that the same offer has been made to President Joe Biden, and Trump’s appearance will be accompanied by a fact-check on NBC News’ website.

Welker joined NBC News in 2010. She’s covered the last three presidential elections and moderated the final 2020 debate between Trump and current president Joe Biden. She was named co-host of Weekend Today in 2020.

Todd moderated his last episode of the NBC show last week after nine years and more than 430 broadcasts. When Todd announced his departure on-air in June, he called Welker “the right person” to take over the job. He said this is how he “hoped this would end for me, passing the baton to her.”