MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts addressed President Donald Trump’s tweets about Joe Scarborough’s dead intern Tuesday morning, calling it “unspeakably cruel.”
Scarborough and his co-hosts pointed to a New York Times op-ed written by contributing opinion writer Kara Swisher. In the Tuesday op-ed, Swisher called for Twitter to remove Trump’s tweets about Lori Klausutis – who was found dead at her desk while working as an intern for Scarborough’s congressional office in 2001. It was determined that Klausutis died of natural causes.
Swisher pointed out “the very serious collateral damage” of the apparent war between Scarborough and Trump, which often results in the president bringing up Klausutis. The op-ed included a letter sent by Klausutis’ husband to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey urging the platform to remove the president’s tweets, where he has pushed a theory suggesting Scarborough had something to do with the 28-year-old’s death.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski began the segment by reading widower Timothy J. Klausutis’ letter to Dorsey in full. Timothy noted that as the intern’s husband, he has “struggled to move forward” and called the theories pushed by the president “horrifying lies.”
“My request is simple: Please delete these tweets,” he wrote to Dorsey. (RELATED: Resurfaced Clip Shows MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Joking With Don Imus About Dead Intern)
WATCH:
Scarborough joined in and pointed out parallels that Swisher noted in her op-ed, such as conspiracy theories relating to the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. The MSNBC host appeared to agree with Swisher that this particular theory could be worse because it has been pushed along by the president.
“It’s unspeakably cruel, whether it’s the president or whether it’s people following the president. It is unspeakably cruel,” Scarborough said. “These are not public figures, nor have they ever been public figures.”
Tuesday’s lengthy segment came after Trump tweeted about Scarborough’s dead intern Sunday. The president pushed the theory that Scarborough had something to do with her death.
WATCH:
Co-host Willie Geist continued on by reading much of Swisher’s op-ed. Geist skipped over the paragraph where Swisher disagreed that “a Trump ban would be pointless and too drastic.” Brzezinski begged for Trump to be banned from the platform during a segment on “Morning Joe” May 20 and on Twitter afterwards.
“Yes, Twitter, Lori Klausutis certainly does deserve better, nearly two decades after she died in a tragic accident that has morphed into a macabre and continuing nightmare for her husband, Timothy Klausutis,” Swisher wrote in the op-ed.
Geist’s reading included Swisher’s suggestion that Trump’s tweets about Scarborough’s dead intern be labeled as misinformation. The segment ended with another quote from Timothy Klausutis’ letter to Dorsey:
“I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her memory and our marriage. As her husband, I feel that one of my marital obligations isto protect her memory as I would have protected her in life. There has been aconstant barrage of falsehoods, half-truths, innuendo and conspiracy theories since the day she died.”
WATCH:
Following the “Morning Joe” clip about Klausutis, the president tweeted about Scarborough and his dead intern again. Trump appeared to defend his past tweets, noting that “The opening of a Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough was not a Donald Trump original thought.”
“The opening of a Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough was not a Donald Trump original thought, this has been going on for years, long before I joined the chorus. In 2016 when Joe & his wacky future ex-wife, Mika, would endlessly interview me, I would always be thinking about whether or not Joe could have done such a horrible thing?” the president tweeted Tuesday morning.
“Maybe or maybe not, but I find Joe to be a total Nut Job, and I knew him well, far better than most. So many unanswered & obvious questions, but I won’t bring them up now! Law enforcement eventually will?”