‘It’s Really Shocking!’ Joe Scarborough Destroys WSJ ‘Trump Hit Piece On Biden’ That’s Contradicted By Their Own Main Source

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough destroyed the Wall Street Journal over a “Trump hit piece” on President Joe Biden that relied on Republicans as sources — including one who previously contradicted what he told them.

Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes dropped a lengthy piece Tuesday night that relied on dozens of anonymous Republican sources and one on-the-record source — former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — to claim there are “signs of slipping” in President Biden’s conduct at several meetings. No Democrats are quoted — anonymously or not — making such claims, and many said the opposite on the record.

On Wednesday morning’s edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Scarborough, and co-host Mika Brzezinski went off on the piece and pointed out that the paper’s main source — McCarthy — had praised Biden in private and in public at the time of those meetings even as he tried to mock the president:

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The Wall Street Journal is out with a new piece entitled Behind Closed Doors. Biden shows signs of slipping.

The Journal says it spoke with both Republicans and Democrats, who either participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them contemporaneously, but essentially only on the record, Republican critics in the article, the one is former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Journal writes, quote,”Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details seemed to shift from one day to the next. According to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: They also quoted–

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Who was quoted in this article.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Mike Johnson, people around Mike Johnson and admit that this was basically House Republicans whacking–

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Why didn’t they just ask Marjorie Taylor Greene?

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Exactly why? Yeah, they couldn’ve just.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: And Lauren Boebert.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah it it’s really shocking! Especially when you see what Kevin McCarthy has said repeatedly, publicly and behind the scenes about Biden on those same days when they were negotiating.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The strong feelings you’re seeing about this article comes, also because the context of this race and these two candidates, it’s interesting. That’s all I’ll say.

Anyhow, that flies in the face of what McCarthy said about Biden’s effectiveness in the past.

From Politico last year, quote, “McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public.”

JOE SCARBOROUGH: In public, like like, like he did in this article.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: While privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations, a contradiction that left a deep impression on the White House.

This from the New York Times. “Privately, Mr. McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings.”.

And this from the Hill. “Very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol of his talks with Biden.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, Willie, I could go on and on with things that Kevin McCarthy and others have said about negotiating with Joe Biden. I can also talk about what the French delegation said when they were negotiating with with him and what they told me, and I have friends that I have in that French delegation who were part of those negotiations, who said that Macron came out like, wow, okay, he’s a lot tougher than we expected.

And and actually, I think Macron sort of got his back up because Biden was pressing so hard. Can tell you the same thing about Middle Eastern leaders that I talked to.

Nobody’s saying he’s not cogent. And some people are suggesting that he he you know, it’s a bit too tough in negotiations, that the United States throws their weight around a little bit too much.

But what I find so shocking about this article is they go to Kevin McCarthy as their main source, and other House Republicans, the same House Republicans, Mike Johnson who just there lied through his teeth repeatedly. Mike Johnson, who got to power based on the big lie.

And they’re using people around Johnson and Kevin McCarthy to do this, this Trump hit piece on Joe Biden! But again, here’s the quote: “Kevin McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public.”.

This is from from Politico last year.

“While privately telling allies that in private he found the president to be sharp and substantive.”.

And I’ve talked to you about my, my meetings with the president over the past year. Willie and and I’ve talked to Mike and Mika about it. And I said in real time, the guy, the guy, you see both those guys right there?

I’ve spent time with both of those guys privately. Spent time, with Biden and Trump privately. I’ve spent time with every House speaker over the past 30 years. And Joe Biden, I’m not just– it’s just not close.

If you want to talk about international affairs, if you want to talk about how to get bipartisan legislation, Joe Biden is light years ahead of all of them. And the fact that the Wall Street Journal knew these quotes were out there, that editors– I’m not looking at the reporter. People always blame the reporter.

There are a line of editors behind every story that’s done. The editors saw that Kevin McCarthy had a habit of saying one thing in public, lying in public, and then privately telling his aides just the opposite, that Biden was sharp, that he was cogent, that he was substantive.

And in the same meeting that Kevin McCarthy is now telling the Wall Street Journal, Biden was out of it. He went out and he told reporters after the meeting that the meeting was, quote, “The best yet. We’re making progress. And. And I’m going to be talking to Joe Biden every day. Very professional, very smart, very tough.”.

I just don’t. I don’t even know what to say. I really don’t even know what to say here.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Morning Joe.