Congressman Keith Ellison chewed out Joe Scarborough for bringing up his past defense of Louis Farrakhan during a Wednesday interview on “Morning Joe.”

Scarborough first pointed to quotes Ellison — potentially the next Democratic National Committee chairman — had said back in 1995, defending the Nation of Islam leader from allegations of anti-Semitism.

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“I think that it is bad reporting because I have a ten-year record in congress, I have a four-year record in the Minnesota statehouse, I’ve practiced law for 16 years, and I just think that, you know, it’s just that kind of reporting that, you know, just that sort of reporting is not quality and doesn’t help people understand the real issues,” Ellison stated.

Scarborough pressed him a second time.

“So, just to clarify it then based, again, on of these quotes and sort of the buzz out there what CNN and others were reporting on what you said before,” he posed. “Do you believe that Louis Farrakhan is an anti-Semite?”

“Sure,” Ellison responded. “But what does he have to do with anything going on in this race or this country at this time? Absolutely nothing.” (RELATED: Keith Ellison Once Proposed Making A Separate Country For Blacks)

“We’re talking about something that happened in 1995. This was a year that the million man march took off,” he continued. “People were attacking the march at the time, and the march was a very good thing.”

Ellison stated he “was very proud to be part of it,” yet bemoaned that he is now “having to answer questions about this, and I’m not talking about what our country needs to look like and what the Democratic Party can do because of this smear campaign from almost 21 years ago.” (RELATED: Democratic Donor: Keith Ellison ‘Clearly An Anti-Semite’)

“This is about distracting and taking people away from the issues that really are at hand in this case, and I think it serves somebody’s political purpose to push this stuff, but it doesn’t serve the public interest to serve it.”

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