NBC Anchor Caught Deceptively Altering the 14th Amendment in Trump Interview

NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker omitted a crucial part of the Fourteenth Amendment during her exchange with President-elect Donald Trump about his plan to end birthright citizenship via executive order.

In the interview aired Sunday, Welker posed the question: “You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one. Is that still your plan?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Trump confirmed.

Welker followed up, saying, “The Fourteenth Amendment though says that ‘All persons born in the United States are citizens.’ Can you get around the Fourteenth Amendment with an executive action?”

Currently, federal policy grants citizenship to children born in the U.S., even if their parents are undocumented immigrants.

“Well, we’re going to have to get a change,” Trump replied. When pressed further about using executive action, he stated, “Well, if we can through executive action.”

Trump’s Agenda 47 plan, released last year, detailed his approach. He proposed issuing an executive order to clarify that the Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship only to those “born in AND ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.” This phrase, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” is pivotal but was notably absent from Welker’s framing of the question.

The complete text of the amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Last year, Trump argued that the prevailing interpretation of the amendment is flawed. “Constitutional scholars have shown for decades that granting automatic citizenship to the children of illegal aliens born in the United States is based on a patently incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment,” he said. Trump further explained, “The purpose of the 14th Amendment had nothing to do with the citizenship of immigrants, let alone the citizenship of the children of illegal aliens. Its purpose was to extend citizenship to people newly freed from slavery, whose status was left in question after the infamous case Dred Scott v. Sandford.”

Trump emphasized that the amendment’s framers intended the clause “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to exclude certain groups, including foreigners and diplomats.

GOP Senator Mike Lee of Utah, a Judiciary Committee member and constitutional expert, criticized Welker’s omission on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “Those words matter.” Lee elaborated, “Congress has the power to define what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’” He argued that omitting these words misrepresents the constitutional debate over birthright citizenship, portraying it as settled when it is not.

Lee concluded, “In this instance, [Meet The Press] seems to try to render a debatable matter beyond debate by selectively omitting key words from the Constitution, making it appear incorrectly that the Fourteenth Amendment proscribes any and all restrictions on birthright citizenship.”

Welker’s handling of the question has drawn criticism for appearing to sidestep the core of Trump’s argument. Critics contend that her omission framed Trump’s plan as baseless and lawless, reinforcing narratives frequently employed by left-leaning media.

If mainstream outlets aim to rebuild trust, critics suggest, they should ensure they present complete and accurate representations of key issues.