Trump Claims the Strait of Hormuz is ‘Open’ In Testy Retort to NBC’s Welker

President Donald Trump called in to NBC News’s Meet The Press Sunday to talk about late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and got testy when host Kristen Welker asked about the current situation with Iran.

Graham had been scheduled to appear on MTP before his death Saturday, after what his office called a “brief and sudden illness.”

Welker tried to diplomatically broach the subject of the Strait of Hormuz with Trump in light of hostilities ramping up on Saturday.

“I had the great honor of being able to talk to [Graham] a couple of times this week, Mr. President, and as you can imagine, we talked about a lot of foreign policy, we talked about a lot of Iran, and in honor of him, I want to still have some of those conversations,” Welker began. “Those were the conversations he wanted to have here this morning, Mr. President. You obviously launched a fresh round of strikes overnight. Iran said overnight the Strait of Hormuz is closed, CENTCOM came out this morning and said the Strait of Hormuz is open. Which is it, Mr. President? How are you going to respond?”

“It’s open, and I don’t want to talk about it because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham,” Trump said. “So, I don’t want to talk about it. I told you that before the call.”

Trump then proceeded to discuss Iran:

It’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night. They’re very, very evil and sick people. We had meetings with them for the last — they agreed to a deal yesterday. It’s a perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing. They gave up everything. And then after that, they left the room. And then within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship. I said, “You people are sick. You’re sick people.” And so, it’s one of those things. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to talk about one person today, Lindsey Graham.”

CENTCOM posted to social media Sunday, “U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) completed a third round of strikes this week against Iran, July 11, holding Iranian forces accountable for attacking another commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“U.S. forces hit approximately 140 Iranian military targets with precision munitions launched by land- and sea-based fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels,” the post said.

Watch the clip above via NBC News’s Meet The Press. 

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!