Some in the liberal media regularly blame President Trump when anything bad happens anywhere across the country, and one of the most ardent supporters of that philosophy is MSNBC's Morning Joe co-host and Trump flip-flopper Joe Scarborough.
Nevertheless, he accused the Republican official in the White House on Wednesday of “aggressively trying to cover up any evidence” that the Russians have tried to “subvert American democracy.”
Scarborough asserted as “fact” that “Donald Trump, and those working for Donald Trump, believe that transparency in this process is actually a danger,” and officials in the administration have “been worried for a long time, for a very long time” about disclosing too much information.
The co-host also stated:
He’s had all of his intel chiefs tell him that the Russians tried to hack … our elections and the Russians tried to influence our elections. He’s dismissed it. He called it “fake news.” Others have suggested it was just a couple of Facebook ads being bought. That’s clearly not the case.
The MSNBC anchor called the current situation “surreal” and “crazy” before comparing it to a bizarre response to the attack on New York City on September 11, 2001. He stated that the government would not tell anyone which buildings were hit so the people “won’t be prepared next time” that happens.
Fellow co-host and wife Mika Brzezinski started the discussion by referring to remarks from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that Russian hackers managed to access voter databases in two counties of the state before the 2016 election.
Brzezinski noted that while the counties “experienced an intrusion, the hackers did not manipulate or change any data, and election results were not compromised.”
DeSantis said that he wasn't “allowed to name the counties. I signed a (non)disclosure agreement,” adding that he “would be willing to name it,” but “they asked me to sign it so I’m going to respect their wishes.”
Brzezinski seemed baffled by the disclosure since “it’s highly unusual that the federal government would ask a governor to sign a nondisclosure agreement, especially in a case involving that governor’s own state.”
“[W]ouldn’t it make sense that you need to know what counties here, that the voters deserve to know?” she asked.
“What would be the circumstances that he needs to sign an NDA?” she also inquired. “And who are we worried about here? The American voters?”
Scarborough then stated that Trump ignores “intelligence reports in order to dismiss the seriousness of Russian election-meddling.”
Also on set, Axios's Jim Vandehei noted:
When you have the president keep waving some people off of the idea that the Russians were infiltrating elections whether it’s in Florida or on a national scale. Yes, the intel community continues to do its work, but if he’s not putting the pressure on it, you’re taking what might be the single biggest threat to American democracy and diminishing it and not putting the full force of the government behind it.
