‘Gotta Love This!’ Joe Scarborough Seizes on Declassified 2020 Docs as Proof Trump Fell ‘Hook, Line and Sinker’ for ‘Putin’s Talking Points’

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough seized on one of the White House’s newly declassified intelligence documents on Friday, as he mocked President Donald Trump as having fallen “hook, line and sinker” for the “rigged election” narrative laundered by Russia as part of a campaign to “ensure” his “victory” in 2020.

The host reacted the morning after Trump delivered a prime-time address on election integrity, during which he directed Americans to intelligence files, released after the president’s speech, that he said supported his claims about foreign interference in U.S. elections.

Instead, Scarborough argued, one of those documents, issued by Trump’s own intelligence community during his first administration, undercut the president’s own case.

“I want to go back and read the document on Russia, because you gotta love this,” Scarborough said.

He continued: “We’ve been hearing by stooges for Donald Trump for years now ‘Russian hoax, Russian hoax, Russian hoax’ – as if they haven’t read all of the mountains of material out there that suggested that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin tried to tip the scales for Donald Trump.”

Reading from the declassified assessment, Scarborough highlighted language stating that “Russian actors have circulated narratives about voter fraud resulting from mail-in balloting” and the Democratic primary process.

“Basically the Intel community, and this was Donald Trump’s Intel community in 2020, admitting that Donald Trump was using Vladimir Putin’s talking points!” he exclaimed.

The host then pointed to another section of the intelligence assessment stating that Russian proxies were “advancing narratives with U.S. officials and other prominent persons as well as online.”

“‘These figures’,” Scarborough quoted, “are conspiring to intensify efforts as the election approaches to orchestrate a high-profile scandal implicating Joe Biden and the Democratic Party at the peak of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.”

“This document, released by Donald Trump to prove that U.S. Elections in 2020 were rigged, says their aim is to defeat former vice president Joe Biden and to ensure President Trump’s victory!” Scarborough said. “The incompetence is staggering. It’s overwhelming.”

The document, dated August 19, 2020, is a National Intelligence Council assessment released by the White House alongside other declassified materials following Trump’s address.

“The only thing he proves is, well, let me read his words: ‘That the Russians’ aim was to defeat Joe Biden and ensure Donald Trump’s victory.’ That’s Russia, that’s Russia!” he said, adding: “And also, of course, that the Russians were using their time-tested theory of vote rigging in a Western democracy, which Donald Trump picked up and spouted out and accepted, just hook, line and sinker.”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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!