Joe Scarborough unloaded on President Donald Trump Friday, focusing on the president’s long-standing elasticity with the truth. “The truth does not matter,” said the co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “That’s official policy now from the White House.”
The latest flap was precipitated by reports of Trump’s effort to pressure Senate Republicans to shut down the Russia investigation, which the New York Times detailed at length on Thursday evening.
The move by Trump mirrored his earlier effort to pressure the Justice Department into the same action — ultimately precipitating Robert Mueller and the special counsel.
“He has people around him that actually justify him bending the truth and lying,” said Scarborough, who also cited the president’s recent retweeting of anti-Muslim and in some cases mislabeled videos by Britain First, a far-right anti-Islamic group in the U.K.
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders justified the move Wednesday, saying it didn’t even matter if the videos and claims of Britain First were real because “‘the threat is real.”
“The spokesperson has zero credibility,” added show co-host Mika Brzezinski. “I actually think she not a stupid person. I think she actually might be a smart person so therefore what she’s doing is even more wrong.”
The set of “Morning Joe” has become feistier than usual in recent days. The show has confronted the implosion of their in-house network star Matt Lauer fully and with vigor.
In addition, the president’s recent suggestion that Scarborough might be involved in the death of a former intern,has goaded the morning host into some particularly nasty barbs toward 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.