Joe Scarborough Baffled by Markwayne Mullin’s ‘Cheering for the Criminal Assault’ of Rand Paul: ‘Why Can’t He Just Apologize?’

MS NOW’s Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough was baffled over Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Markwayne Mullin’s “cheering for the criminal assault and battery” of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Thursday, questioning why he couldn’t just apologize.

Reacting to Mullin’s refusal to apologize to Paul for his comments last month justifying his colleague’s assault – which resulted in Paul being hospitalized with broken ribs and a damaged lung – Scarborough said, “He was cheering for the criminal assault and battery of Rand Paul, and it’s just– I guess it’s just these days, I don’t know.”

“I don’t get it,”  Scarborough continued. “Why can’t he just apologize for a really stupid, insensitive, and misguided statement that he made?”

Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei added, “I mean, it’s just one of the rules of when White House officials appear before Congress – apologize for nothing, be combative, assume that the president of the United States is watching you.”

He continued, “That’s why so many of these hearings, you would hope they’re a little more substantive, and it’s not that there’s not moments of substance, it’s just so much theater, so much pageantry, because they’re so self-conscious about appearing tough, appearing like they’ll defend the president in any scenario, under any circumstance.”

“You don’t really get to the truth about, OK, how would he actually run the Department of Homeland Security at a time of great tension, when it’s not even being funded, when you have a lot of attacks and an unpopularity among ICE, you have some really big philosophical decisions to be made about how do you balance protecting people’s individual liberties with cracking down on people who are here illegally?” VandeHei concluded. “These are big, meaty topics, but they tend to turn instantly theatrical.”

Paul confronted Mullin during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday over comments he made last month justifying Paul’s 2017 assault.

“You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted,” said Paul. “I was shocked that you would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain and my family so much pain. I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force.”

He continued, “Today, I’ll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face, if that’s what you believe. Tell it to me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken, and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it.”

Mullin responded by refusing to apologize for his remarks.

Watch above via MSNOW.

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