Scarborough Blows Up at Reporter for Claiming He ‘Partied’ With Trump on New Years
MSNBC’S Joe Scarborough went on a warpath on Sunday as he called out CBS former reporter Sopan Deb for saying that the MSNBC host spent New Years Eve cozying up to President-Elect Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Deb tweeted an excerpt from a New York Times article describing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, and the party Trump held there to celebrate the new year. Deb found it interesting that the co-hosts of Morning Joe were seen at the estate yesterday, and Deb described their presence by saying that they “partied” with Trump.
Morning Joe's hosts partied with Trump last night at Mar-A-Lago. Last year, Trump publicly thanked them for support. https://t.co/gLHtsOloph pic.twitter.com/6znKSoNf67
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 1, 2017
Scarborough took notice of this, and he made it clear that he did not approve of it.
Partied? You're very good at pushing fake news. You should write for CNN. Apparently making up facts is fine if you're writing about us. https://t.co/mCe0EYghRB
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
One of the more entertaining aspects of media coverage of media is how so many who blast Trump for half truths attack us with half truths. https://t.co/mCe0EYghRB
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Last year I said Trump's campaign was racist, xenophobic and disqualifying. But be snide while making facts up. Partied? Not even close. https://t.co/mCe0EYghRB
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Yeah. I'm tired of hacks attacking politicians for lies and false narratives and then doing the same to us. https://t.co/d74af4qxJU
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Does @CBSNews know that you just make shit up on your twitter feed? https://t.co/mCe0EYghRB
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Wow. He says he chases Trump for CBS. You mean he even lies on his Twitter bio? I'm not surprised. https://t.co/xgengRyfAK
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
You're defending a guy who lied about me and you're telling me to be careful? I think you have that backwards. You be careful. Facts matter. https://t.co/5YE0necdu8
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
(For the sake of clarity, Deb was CBS’ Trump campaign correspondent, but he is moving on to work for the Times)
Deb responded to this by asking Scarborough what exactly he got wrong with his report:
I imagine you repeated that last night at Mar-A-Lago, @JoeNBC. Before the ball dropped, maybe even. https://t.co/xpiRV0JQKz
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 1, 2017
Agreed! Facts matter: so you weren't at Mar-A-Lago on New Years Eve? You called it fake news, so let's get this right. https://t.co/M8ByaSXHBE
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 1, 2017
Scarborough responded in the following manner:
1. I "partied" last night by watching Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters with my kids. Then watched the Mariah Carey dumpster fire.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
2. Around 7pm, I had a preset meeting with PEOTUS before his party trying to set up an interview (much like reporters at CBS & NYT do.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
3. The event was black tie. Both Mika and I were in casual clothes, did not attend the party, and left before any "partying" began.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
4. Nothing that Mika and I did in setting up this meeting was any different than what all good reporters and news hosts try to do daily.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
5. Anyone suggesting otherwise is a hypocrite who ignores what great journalists from Ben Bradlee to Tom Brokaw have done for years.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
6. I hope we get the interview.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
7. Stop lying about us.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
8. Happy New Year?
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
They still weren’t done yet though:
I can't think of a presidential candidate who thanked Brokaw and Bradlee for their support, but I'm just a liar who makes up news. https://t.co/Hjq5XF3dD1
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 1, 2017
So you double down when you get caught in a lie. How…interesting. https://t.co/tN6pdBmcC3
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Yes. You lied. And you are digging a deeper whole. Trump also thanked Axelrod. Stop. Digging. You're embarrassing yourself. https://t.co/5hzO20TG7P
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
In street clothes. We made the radical decision to follow the path provided by the Secret Service. The pic was in front of metal detectors. https://t.co/RZgnErXsWH
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Yes he did. In a rush to be snide, he lied about the facts. https://t.co/K7sMKXrH6l
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Throughout the 2016 election, there were concerns that Morning Joe was close with Trump and would go easy on him during interviews. This relationship took a turn for the worse during the later months of the election, though Mika Brzezinski was recently seen at Trump Tower.
UPDATE: 6:21 pm EST: Scarborough is still tweeting out responses to those intrigued by his appearance at Mar-a-Lago:
I don't know about you, but journalists I know "show up" when the scheduler sets the time. It stops one from being restrained by the USSS. https://t.co/KtejGb0u9M
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
Deb, for his part, appears to have conceded to Scarborough’s point:
My word, not @maggieNYT's. I should've chosen a better word. "Attended" is more accurate. https://t.co/EYnjPAcTeO
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 1, 2017
Scarborough responded shortly afterwards:
1. Thank you for that but I did not "attend" the party.
2. We walked through metal detectors and around the area guests were. https://t.co/xSXDVK5nNJ
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
That is not, by any reasonable definition, "attending" the party. https://t.co/xSXDVK5nNJ
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 1, 2017
UPDATE: 7:24 pm EST: Scarborough is still tweeting about the development, now in an exchange with Maggie Haberman, who wrote the article Deb referred to.
@nycsouthpaw @politicalwire @JoeNBC they literally were among the revelers. As in, in the crowd. Doesn't mean they stayed all night etc.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 2, 2017
Maggie, I've clearly stated that:
1. I walked straight from the metal detectors to the meeting. https://t.co/crhST1EJZX
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
2. That required walking around and through "revelers".
3. We were stopped for about 30 seconds by well wishers. https://t.co/crhST1EJZX
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
4. We pushed our way through the crowd to the meeting.
5. Not only did we not stay all night with the "revelers." We didn't stay 1 minute. https://t.co/crhST1EJZX
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
6. And I'm glad I didn't stay. Groundhog Day with the kids was great. And Mariah Carey…Good God. A fitting coda to 2016. https://t.co/crhST1EJZX
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
@JoeNBC You never talked to Trump in public among the crowd?
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 2, 2017
The Secret Service guided us to the foot of the stairs, we met him, he introduced us to a 10 year old kid, then we walked upstairs. https://t.co/P0C0Wr8ypk
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
Btw, my issue is not with your story. It's with the mischaracterization of it by someone else that we were "partying." All good. https://t.co/P0C0Wr8ypk
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 2, 2017
[Image via screengrab]
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