Trump Praises ‘Extremely Cordial’ Meeting With MSNBC’s Joe and Mika: Congratulated Me On a ‘Great and Flawless Campaign’
President-elect Donald Trump spoke to Fox News Digital on Monday about his recent meeting with MSNBC morning show hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, praising the discussion as ‘“very cordial” and something that should have happened “long ago.”
“I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place,” Trump told Fox’s Brooke Singman. “We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning at 8:00.”
“Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication. In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago,” added Trump.
Trump also spoke about the free press at a time when many pundits and observers are concerned about his threats to take media outlets, like CBS News, off the air over negative coverage. “In order to Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press,” Trump told Fox.
Trump also said of his meeting with the MSNBC hosts that they “congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a campaign where I worked long and hard — perhaps longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history.”
“We talked about various Cabinet members — both announced and to be announced. As expected, they like some very much, but not all. The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future,” Trump added. Singman also reported that Trump is open to meeting with other critical members of the media:
Trump added, “I expect this will take place with others in the media, even those that have been extremely hostile.”
The president-elect said he feels he has “an obligation to the American public, and to our country itself, to be open and available to the press.”
“If not treated fairly, however, that will end,” Trump said. “The media is very important to the long-term success of the United States of America.”
Trump also hit on the topic of retribution and using the government to punish his domestic opponents, something he repeatedly suggested during the campaign.
“And while many others are calling for meetings, I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension. I am always looking to give a second and even third chance, but never willing to give a fourth chance — that is where I hold the line,” Trump added.
He also thanked his loyal media boosters, “They were the ones that kept me in the game, and they were the ones that gave me a victory — the likes of which our country has rarely seen before,” Trump said. “These people and organizations, and they know who they are, should be, and are, very proud of themselves, and they have a right to be proud. And I have a right to say to them — congratulations.”
Read the full interview here.
