MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Monday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of former President Donald Trump did not have “a lot of there there.”
The host argued that Trump’s consistent public attacks against the indictment has led an increasing amount of the American public to support the charges brought forth against him on March 30.
“Since Bragg came forward with the charges that I will say again, for me, there wasn’t a lot of there there,” Scarborough said. “I know you [Mika Brzezinski] disagree with me and that’s fine, but even though there wasn’t a lot of there there in my opinion, for Americans, five percent more Americans this week believe that Donald Trump should’ve been indicted than last week which gets to what you always say about [former Republican New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie. No indictment is good.”
“He is right about that,” Brzezinkski added.
Scarborough argued against some viewpoints that the indictment will benefit the former president in the 2024 presidential election. The MSNBC host said it will be a detriment to Trump in the general election if he is to win the nomination.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 50% of Americans believe Trump should have been charged, a five percent increase from April 1. A total of 33% opposed the indictment, which only rose by one percentage point from the 32% saying he should not have been charged on April 1.
“All that witch hunt stuff, all the talk of violence, death and destruction, World War III, one out of three Americans believe that, but fifty percent—a majority of Americans—believe even after the indictments came forward with no new surprises, still think he should’ve been charged,” Scarborough said. (RELATED: Trump Surrenders At New York Courthouse)
Brzezinski pointed out that Republicans have not come to Trump’s defense over accusations that the former president’s previous attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in hush money to former porn actress Stormy Daniels, and have instead remained silent about the charges. The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Aside from Daniels, Bragg saidthat American Media, Inc. paid $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal to remain silent about an alleged affair with Trump. There are also allegations that the company paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 for rights to an allegation that Trump had a child out of wedlock.