Donald Trump Hangs Up on Reporter After Being Asked About False Election Fraud Claims

Donald Trump‘s interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep didn’t last very long.

The former president spoke with the reporter briefly on Tuesday (January 11), marking the first time he had agreed to be interviewed by NPR since their initial request in 2015.

While the pre-recorded interview was scheduled to be 15 minutes, Trump left the call early after being pressed about the 2020 election.

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The pair began by discussing the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The vaccines, I recommend taking them, but I think that has to be an individual choice,” Trump said. He also added that he felt the mandates were “really hurting our country.”

They then moved on to the 2020 election, as well as Trump and his supporters’ baseless claims that it was rigged in President Joe Biden‘s favor.

“Is it a disadvantage for Republicans to keep talking about the 2020 election in 2022?” Steve asked.

“No, I think it’s an advantage, because otherwise they’re going to do it again in ’22 and ’24,” he responded, mentioning unsubstantiated “findings in Arizona” and “what’s going on” in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where he said, “They’re finding things that nobody thought possible,” adding, “This was a corrupt election.”

Steve then said “the audit in Arizona that was set up by your allies, didn’t find serious problems,” and asking why officials had accepted the results if that was the case.

“Because they’re RINOs,” Trump replied. “And frankly, a lot of people are questioning that.”

When asked why the majority of his allies were not standing behind him on his 2020 election misinformation, he said, “Because Mitch McConnell is a loser.”

Trump went on to falsely claim that “nobody believes” Biden “all of a sudden got 80 million votes,” because he could only “attract 20 people for a crowd” and “nobody came to watch.”

“If you’ll forgive me,” Steve replied, “maybe because the election was about you.”

He continued, “If I can just move on to ask, are you telling Republicans in 2022 that they must press your case on the past election in order to get your endorsement? Is that an absolute?”

Trump responded: “They are going to do whatever they want to do — whatever they have to do, they’re going to do.”

He then continued to discuss his false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” while Steve tried to interject. Trump then suddenly ended the interview.

“So Steve, thank you very much,” he said. “I appreciate it.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I have one more question,” said the reporter, who began asking about an upcoming court hearing about the Capitol riot last year. He then stopped, saying, “He’s gone. OK.”

President Joe Biden recently called out the former president for his role in the January 6th insurrection.