President Donald Trump is pushing back hard against the suggestion that the Trump no new wars Iran controversy exposes a broken campaign promise. In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the president rejected the idea that launching this year’s war with Iran contradicted the “No new wars” message he repeated throughout his return to the White House.

“I Didn’t Guarantee No War”

Trump made clear that he never viewed his campaign rhetoric as a binding pledge.

“First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” he said during the interview, which was taped Friday in Wisconsin.

Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump frequently painted his Democratic rivals as warmongers while presenting himself as the candidate of peace who had started no new conflicts. But on Sunday, he distanced himself from those promises, saying that as a candidate, “I didn’t promise anything.”

Calling the Iran Conflict a “Service”

Trump framed the war with Iran, which began February 28, as a necessary and limited engagement rather than the kind of drawn-out conflict he says he opposes.

“I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We’ve been doing this for three months,” he said.

He argued that he was “doing the world a service” and “doing our country a service” by acting to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. However, his messaging contained a notable contradiction — elsewhere in the interview, he claimed that U.S. strikes last year had already “obliterated” Iranian nuclear sites.

Trump also stood by his first-term decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement struck under President Barack Obama, a deal he has long criticized. Despite promising a “better deal,” he has not negotiated a replacement, telling NBC, “It takes years to do these things.”

Unsupported Claims of Fraud in California

Much of the interview centered on California’s lengthy vote count, which has become a frequent target for election conspiracy theories. Since Tuesday’s primary, Trump has claimed — without providing evidence — that Democrats are rigging elections in the state.

California’s slow counting process has gradually cut into the vote totals of Trump’s preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor. While Trump has repeatedly characterized these shifts as proof of fraud, they reflect nothing more than the time it takes to tally late-arriving, Democratic-leaning mail ballots.

When NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed him for evidence, the exchange grew tense:

• Trump insisted, “All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look.”
• Welker countered, “But that’s not evidence.”
• Trump replied, “And I listen. And I listen to people. And let’s see what happens.”

Notably, the Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles announced Friday that his office had opened multiple election fraud investigations.

The Scrapped “Anti-Weaponization Fund”

Trump also defended a now-abandoned plan to create a roughly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The fund was tied to a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced midweek that the Justice Department was dropping the plan. The reversal followed a judge’s pause on the fund and growing concern from both Democrats and some Republicans about its lack of oversight — including the possibility that payouts could reach participants in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Trump told NBC he believed the fund was “a great idea” and said he would be “disappointed” if it were not approved. Asked whether people who attacked police officers on January 6 should receive payments, he said, “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it,” before making further unfounded claims about the riot. Trump had issued sweeping pardons on his first day back in office in January 2025 to more than 1,500 people prosecuted over the attack.

A Rain-Soaked, Abrupt Ending

The interview itself was an eventful affair. Conducted in a barn in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, ahead of a roundtable with farmers, the taping was repeatedly interrupted by heavy rain hammering the metal roof, at times making the conversation difficult to hear.

Tensions peaked near the end as Welker pushed Trump on the settlement fund and his California election claims. Trump raised his voice, branding Welker and the media “crooked” and complaining about what he called “the fake, dirty press.”

As Welker attempted to change topics, the two talked over each other before Trump abruptly ended the session. “Let’s call it quits,” he said, removing his microphone and telling Welker, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time,” before standing up and walking away.

Welker later noted on the broadcast that she had spoken with Trump on Saturday, when he acknowledged the rain had caused complications and agreed to sit for another interview in the future.