On Friday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough slammed Democrats for attempting a last-minute smear of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, pointing to the nasty attack as the reason “why a lot of people just don’t get involved in public service.” He warned liberal lawmakers pushing the vague allegations that they were “only hurting their cause.”
“Plus, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee Dianne Feinstein is tight lipped on what information she gave to the FBI about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh,” co-host Mika Brzezinski announced at the top of the 7:00 a.m. ET hour. Scarborough chimed in:
You know what? Let’s just stop there for a second....Democratic staffers leaked to the press a slur, we don’t know if it’s true or not, but then they leak it at the last second. This is a guy who has been, whose life has been examined by the FBI and has been screened a lot of times in his life. This looks like a cheap last-minute trick by Democrats, whether you’re for Kavanaugh or not, but this is why a lot of people just don’t get involved in public service.
Liberal political analyst Mike Barnicle replied: “...are you surprised at this?” Scarborough declared: “No, I’m not surprised by it at all. But for the Democrats who are doing this. They’re only hurting their cause.” Barnicle agreed.
Scarborough further hammered Democrats’ handling of the anonymous accusations:
And you just feel like, okay, if you’re going to make an accusation that is devastating to somebody’s character, if you’re going to smear somebody’s character, then you know what? Don’t say, “I have a letter, I’m not going to tell you what’s in it, but I’m going to send it to the FBI.” That’s bad form.
Later Friday morning, The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow published an article detailing the claims from a still-unknown source that Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her in the early 1980s, when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh has emphatically denied the accusation.
On Morning Joe, Barnicle asked: “Why would anyone put their name forward for a public office or put their name forward, obviously allow their name be put forward, even for the Supreme Court, because you know what you’re going to have to endure, you know what you’re family is going to have to endure?”
Emphasizing how suspicious the timing was, Scarborough noted: “But again though, Mike, they’ve made sure though, they’ve leaked what the accusation is, which is not even worth us repeating on this air because we don’t know. It’s just a leak.” Barnicle cautioned: “Right. And what they leaked, the true danger of it is, what they leaked was a whisper. A whisper.”
Co-host Willie Geist wrapped up the discussion by informing viewers: “That the FBI is not pursuing, by the way. It was referred to FBI and the FBI is not pursuing it.”
Before even having knowledge of what the claims against Kavanaugh actually were, Thursday’s NBC Nightly News ran with the story, offering little skepticism.
Here is a full transcript of the September 14 segment on Morning Joe:
7:01 AM ET
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Plus, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee Dianne Feinstein is tight lipped on what information she gave to the FBI about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know what? Let’s just stop there for a second. Mike, they get a letter and say, “We’re not going to tell you what’s in the letter.” But Democratic staffers leaked to the press a slur, we don’t know if it’s true or not, but then they leak it at the last second. This is a guy who has been, whose life has been examined by the FBI and has been screened a lot of times in his life. This looks like a cheap last-minute trick by Democrats, whether you’re for Kavanaugh or not, but this is why a lot of people just don’t get involved in public service.
MIKE BARNICLE: Well, that’s it. First of all, let me ask you, are you surprised at this?
SCARBOROUGH: No, I’m not surprised by it at all. But for the Democrats who are doing this.
BARNICLE: Yes, I agree.
SCARBOROUGH: They’re only hurting their cause.
BARNICLE: I agree.
SCARBOROUGH: And you just feel like, okay, if you’re going to make an accusation that is devastating to somebody’s character, if you’re going to smear somebody’s character, then you know what? Don’t say, “I have a letter, I’m not going to tell you what’s in it, but I’m going to send it to the FBI.” That’s bad form.
BARNICLE: Well, there are two problems here. You raised one of them. Why would anyone put their name forward for a public office or put their name forward, obviously allow their name be put forward, even for the Supreme Court, because you know what you’re going to have to endure, you know what you’re family is going to have to endure? And at the conclusion, or near the conclusion of the process, now, Judge Kavanaugh, we don’t know what the accusation is because it was made relatively anonymously to the larger public.
SCARBOROUGH: But again though, Mike, they’ve made sure though, they’ve leaked what the accusation is, which is not even worth us repeating on this air because we don’t know. It’s just a leak.
BARNICLE: Right. And what they leaked, the true danger of it is, what they leaked was a whisper. A whisper.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
WILLIE GEIST: That the FBI is not pursuing, by the way. It was referred to FBI and the FBI is not pursuing it.
SCARBOROUGH: No.
