NEWSNBC's Peter Alexander Defends Colleague Kristen Welker After Donald Trump Threatens FCC 'Punishment'
Peter Alexander defended Kristen Welker after Donald Trump threatened FCC action over her remarks.
Sept. 5 2026, Published 1:39 p.m. ET
Peter Alexander used his Aug. 31 show to defend Kristen Welker after President Donald Trump threatened to report the Meet the Press host to the FCC.
On State of Play, Alexander criticized Trump’s Truth Social attack on Welker, his former NBC News colleague, after she said during a Sunday, August 30 appearance on NBC4 Washington that the president’s endorsed candidates had seen “mixed results” in primaries.
“The truth is still the truth, and you deserve to know it, whether a president likes it or not,” Alexander said.
Peter Alexander defended Kristen Welker after Donald Trump criticized her comments about his endorsement record.
Donald Trump Targets Kristen Welker
Peter Alexander said Kristen Welker was correct to describe the results of Donald Trump’s endorsements as mixed.
Trump lashed out after Welker said he would “loom large” over the midterms while noting that his endorsement record had not been perfect.
The president called Welker the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press” and described her comments as a “purposeful inaccuracy.”
He also said she would be reported to the Federal Communications Commission for “rebuke or punishment.”
“The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation,” Trump wrote, urging FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the commission to take what he called a “Threat to our Country” seriously.
NBC News stood by Welker, saying, “Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her.”
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Peter Alexander Pushes Back
NBC News defended Kristen Welker and called her one of the best journalists in the business.
Alexander, who worked with Welker at NBC News for more than a decade, described Trump’s response as “rage posting” and said the president was “furious over the facts.”
“Setting aside the fact that the FCC does not ‘rebuke’ or ‘punish’ individual journalists, Welker’s statement that candidates Trump has endorsed in the primaries have had some mixed results is true,” Alexander said.
He noted that other outlets, including Fox News, had also reported on Trump-backed candidates who failed to secure nominations.
“Trump didn’t threaten Fox News for reporting on his ‘high-profile defeats’ — their words, not mine — because it’s true,” Alexander said.
A Warning About Pressure
Peter Alexander warned that Donald Trump’s threats against journalists could create pressure intended to intimidate reporters and affect their work.
Alexander acknowledged that Trump remains a major force in Republican politics, but said defeats among his endorsed candidates are still worth covering.
What concerned him more, he said, was Trump “again threatening to use the levers of government to crack down on reporting that he does not like.”
“The goal, it appears, is to have a chilling effect, to intimidate, to threaten, to bully journalists and to undermine the truth,” Alexander added.
“The work still matters,” Alexander said, calling Welker “one of the hardest-working and best-sourced reporters around.”
