This is the best summary I could come up with:
A defiant former President Donald Trump sparred with new "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker for more than an hour this week at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate, battling over his array of legal issues, role in Jan. 6 and promotion of falsehoods about the 2020 election.
In totality, Trump's interview with NBC News highlighted the duality of the candidate who is the overwhelming favorite to win the GOP nomination and challenge the Democrats next fall: On one hand, he is carving out a policy messaging lane fit for the general election, while on the other, he is as combative as ever about the charges he faces and his role in the lessening the trust Americans have not only in bedrock institutions, but in democracy itself.
The remarks, of course, come as Republicans have suffered numerous key losses at the ballot box since the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, which had allowed for abortion to be legal for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
One of Welker's final questions centered on whether Trump — who has spent three years trying to overturn or delegitimize the last election he lost — still believes democracy "is the most effective form of government.
Welker pivoted to an effort Trump and other Republicans have embraced to make it easier to fire career civil servants in the government perceived to be disloyal.
While Trump could have shielded himself from federal criminal prosecution on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in his final days in office, he has also been charged with illegally retaining and hiding classified documents following his presidency — based on acts that occurred after he lost the pardon power.
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