On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough laughably claimed that “history has chosen” the Democratic Party to “defend the rule of law.” The same Democratic Party that excused Bill Clinton’s perjury in the 1990s and dismissed Hillary Clinton’s email scandal in 2016.
Scarborough began his rant by proclaiming: “...it’s obvious to anybody that’s watching, either in America or overseas, there has become over the past several weeks a sustained and an increasingly quickening assault on the rule of law.” The anchor accused Attorney General William Barr of having “committed perjury in the House and probably the Senate.”
He complained that “Republicans and Trumpists are apologizing” for Barr. To his credit, Scarborough noted Clinton committing perjury, but only to label Republicans as hypocrites: “...they were the same ones screaming that Bill Clinton should be impeached because of his perjury charges.” No mention was made of the obvious hypocrisy among Democrats.
After also blasting Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin for denying House Democrats’ request for President Trump’s tax returns, Scarborough asserted both Mnuchin and Barr were “in contempt of Congress” and demanded that “Democrats should hold them in contempt of Congress.” He then hailed liberal lawmakers as the only defenders of the law:
The Republicans don’t care. So it is, history has chosen the Democratic Party, at this point in time, to be the only party in America who will stand up and defend the rule of law. The only party. There is no one else there. And as a former Republican and as a guy with a lot of Republican friends, it makes me sad. But this moment in history has provided us only one political party that can stand up and defend the rule of law, and that’s on the Democrats. Whether it’s the smart political calculation or not, the Constitution requires it.
The self-described “former Republican,” who once boosted Donald Trump’s presidential campaign throughout the 2016 primaries with frequent softball interviews, is now eager to ride his high horse and cynically pretend Democrats are standing on principle rather than practicing partisan politics.
Here is a transcript of Scarborough’s May 7 monologue:
6:18 AM ET
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JOE SCARBOROUGH: There is, Mike, and it’s obvious to anybody that’s watching, either in America or overseas, there has become over the past several weeks a sustained and an increasingly quickening assault on the rule of law. Whether you look at what Barr did in his testimony, whether you look at the fact that he committed perjury in the House and probably the Senate. And yet, Republicans and Trumpists are apologizing for him and saying, “Nothing to see here, move along,” when they were the same ones screaming that Bill Clinton should be impeached because of his perjury charges.
You have secretary of the Treasury coming out saying, “Oh, no, we understand there’s a statute that says that the chairman of the Ways and Means has the right to see any American’s tax returns but we’re just not going to comply with the law of the land.” And they do it without a second thought. I mean that’s – it’s not a constitutional crisis, that’s breaking the law. They’re just – they’re breaking the law. You can look at all of the document requests that they’ve ignored. They’re in contempt of Congress. Democrats should hold them in contempt of Congress. You look at what Lindsey Graham is doing –
MIKE BARNICLE: And they don’t care.
SCARBOROUGH: They don’t care. The Republicans don’t care. So it is, history has chosen the Democratic Party, at this point in time, to be the only party in America who will stand up and defend the rule of law. The only party. There is no one else there. And as a former Republican and as a guy with a lot of Republican friends, it makes me sad. But this moment in history has provided us only one political party that can stand up and defend the rule of law, and that’s on the Democrats. Whether it’s the smart political calculation or not, the Constitution requires it.
BARNICLE: The Constitution does require it. The politics of it are gonna be perhaps dicey, but the Constitution does require it.
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