Exulting over former President Donald Trump's indictment in Georgia, Mika Brzezinski was rather bloodthirsty--or shall we say, jail-thirsty -- during Tuesday's Morning Joe:
"He can't run, he can't hide, he can't pardon himself, and he cannot avoid going to jail if convicted of these charges."
Lock him up, eh, Mika?
But Joe Scarborough took a surprisingly more sober view. In particular, he said that he was concerned that the indictment was brought in heavily Democratic Fulton County.
Scarborough wondered how people would react if, say, a prosecutor in Holmes County, in the Florida panhandle, which voted 87 percent for Trump in 2020, indicted a Democratic president. Joe pondered why the case couldn't have been brought in another county, and if perhaps prosecutors elsewhere declined to proceed.
And if Scarborough's concerns were valid when it comes to Fulton County, which went 72.65 percent for Biden in 2020, how much more so in Washington, D.C., where Jack Smith has brought his January 6th case against Trump? The District of Columbia went for Biden over Trump by the overwhelming margin of 92 percent-5 percent!
Greg Bluestein of the liberal Atlanta Journal-Constitution made the case for the indictment being brought in Fulton County, noting that many of the facts alleged in the indictment, including the infamous "perfect" phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, took place there.
Bluestein even cited Fani Willis, thusly:
"Fani Willis even said in an interview, at the beginning of the process, when she first heard Brad Raffensperger's phone call, she wished he lived in middle Georgia. She wished he lived in Macon, very far from where we are right now.
"But he didn't. He lived in north Fulton county, and so she said she had to follow the facts, she had to follow the law."
Riight. If you believe Willis wished that the opportunity to prosecute Trump hadn't fallen in her lap, we've got a bridge in Georgia to sell you. Think Willis just might run for higher office, using this case as her springboard?
Scarborough was careful to maintain his liberal street cred by saying no fewer than three times that he found Trump's activity in Georgia "abhorrent," adding, "and appears illegal."
Joe Scarborough expressing concern that the Georgia indictment of Donald Trump was brought in heavily Democrat Fulton County was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, Consumer Cellular, and Trivago.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC's Morning Joe
8/15/23
6:28 am EDTJOE SCARBOROUGH: So, so Greg Bluestein, the, the conduct was, was abhorrent. I think most people, if you read Andy McCarthy yesterday, again, a very conservative, conservative former prosecutor, will agree that, that the conduct is abhorrent.
And, yet, he, as well as Jack Goldsmith, who similarly has never been a Trump defender, in fact, he's opposite. He's been openly hostile to what Donald Trump has done to the presidency and the Constitution, also is concerned about the political impact down the road, the political scar tissue of all this.
So, I have a question for you, maybe you can help explain this. Their concern, and my concern also, it's not that Trump got indicted, it's that he got indicted in one of the most Democratic counties in the state of Georgia.
And it does beg the question: what happens if -- I was just checking this, Holmes County, Florida, northwest Florida, went 87% for Donald Trump. What happens if, for some reason, a county prosecutor decides to prosecute a Democratic president in the future? Brings the case there, where 87% of the population voted for Donald Trump, and then holds that president or ex-president to account for activity?
And, again, I know people are saying, oh, but Donald Trump -- again, I agree. What Donald Trump did was abhorrent and appears illegal. At the same time, my question to you, Greg, is why did this get brought in the most, one of the most Democratic counties in the state? Did other county prosecutors have the ability to bring these charges as well but just didn't do it?
GREG BLUESTEIN: Well, the main reason, Joe, is because Fulton county covers Atlanta's [sic, Georgia's] capital, and so much of what happened, happened in Atlanta's capital.
Fani Willis even said in an interview, at the beginning of the process, when she first heard Brad Raffensperger's phone call, she wished he lived in middle Georgia. She wished he lived in Macon, very far from where we are right now.
But he didn't. He lived in north Fulton county, and so she said she had to follow the facts, she had to follow the law, and that led her to, to begin the process of bringing these charges.
But that wasn't the only thing that happened in Fulton county. When, Donald Trump called the Speaker of the Georgia House, when he called the Lieutenant Governor, when he called the Leader of the state Senate, when he called the Governor of Georgia, all of that happens in the capital of Georgia. All that happened in the county seat county, Atlanta. And so, that's the reason why.
