Joe Scarborough Mocks Claims of ‘Russian Hoax’ From ‘Trump Apologists’ as Former President Continues to Praise Putin
Joe Scarborough mocked “Trump apologists” for describing Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “hoax” amid Donald Trump’s continued praise for Vladimir Putin.
The excoriation came as Morning Joe reacted to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) blasting his fellow Republicans for the “almost treasonous” defenses of Putin and Russia. Scarborough brought up Trump’s Fox News interview where he had “no message” for Putin in the middle of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
“I’m just curious, why would he be afraid to give Vladimir Putin the suggestion ‘why don’t you retreat?’ Why doesn’t he do what the rest of the world does?” Scarborough said.
He continued:
It’s very strange, it continues to be strange. But again, you all on the far-right, Trump apologists, ignore all the evidence out there, and why don’t you just use that term ‘Russian hoax’ for another five years if that helps you sleep well at night. So many of you telling us Vladimir Putin was never going to invade Ukraine. You attacked the ‘mainstream media,’ the dominant media, ‘oh, they’re never going to attack. This is never going to happen.’ You’re wrong. You’ve been wrong about Vladimir Putin all along. You’ve defended Donald Trump all along for him actually running resistance.
Scarborough turned to Jonathan Lemire as he said “certainly everybody that’s enabled Donald Trump and everybody that enabled Vladimir Putin, they don’t want to stop and connect these dots. Now is the time, though, with Ukraine actually on edge to say ‘Wait a second, why did he work so hard to dismember NATO over the past four, five years?'”
The MSNBC host also referred the 2018 Helsinki summit where Trump sided with Putin over U.S. intelligence assessments that Russia interfered with the 2016 election.
Scarborough noted old reports about how Trump considered pulling the U.S. out of NATO, and recalled how Russian hackers went after Hillary Clinton and the DNC shortly after Trump publicly asked them to find her missing emails.
“They listened,” Scarborough said. “They did what Donald Trump told them to do that night.”
Lemire concluded by reminding the panel that Putin is on-record saying he wanted Trump to win the 2016 election.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
