MSNBC's Wednesday edition of Morning Joe spent its time ping-ponging back and forth from President Trump's summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee. Trump's tweets on Cohen from Hanoi gave the morning show a chance to combine the two and repeat one of their favorite lines: that Trump is hostile to the idea of a free press.
Earlier, when Trump and Kim shook hands and posed for the cameras, members of the press shouted questions at Trump, most having to do with his expectations for the summit, but one at the end was about Cohen's impending testimony. Responding to the shouting of unrelated questions, co-host Willie Geist reported that, "American reporters were barred from that [dinner] session."
Co-host Mika Brzezinski called the decision "quite interesting" and said that the only reason reporters brought up Cohen was because Trump was tweeting about him, but self-professed friend of Cohen, Donny Deutsch, took it one step further, "It's ironic, when in Rome, he's in a country where there is no free press and our President decided at the moment we don't have a free press."
In the aftermath of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro detaining an American journalist, his crew, and their technical equipment earlier this week, one would hope the media would learn the difference between having basic press procedures and protocols, such as asking relevant questions, and not having a free press at all are not the same thing, but if they were, then Deutsch couldn't compare Trump to the Vietnamese government.
Here is a transcript for the February 27 show:
MSNBC
Morning Joe
7:45 AM ET
WILLIE GEIST: I want to add in one thing, if we can put up the picture again guys of the picture you just had up of the small dinner, the spray there, we're getting reports now that reporters, American reporters were barred from that session, wire service reporters because of quote “sensitivities over shouted questions.” When Chairman Kim and President Trump at the earlier event, availability after they shook hands and sat in the chairs, we showed you that, there were shouted questions from a couple of American reporters. Apparently the White House didn't like that and barred some American wire service reporters who scheduled to be in that meeting and ask further questions of the President and the North Korean dictator, Mika, were not allowed in the room by the White House.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I'm assuming the questions they didn't like were about Michael Cohen.
GEIST: Correct.
BRZEZINSKI: The reporters were only responding to the President's tweet, which happened shortly before this meeting, where the President himself was tweeting about Michael Cohen and also being very disingenuous in his tweets saying that Michael Cohen is testifying today to try to reduce his jail time. That's not legally possible. The President’s not telling the truth and reporters were simply responding to the President's statement which happened just a short time ago--Michael Cohen. And now kicked out of any type of coverage of this dinner. It’s all quite interesting, it’s an interesting time.
DONNY DEUTSCH: Mika, I’m sorry, it’s ironic, when in Rome, he's in a country where there is no free press and our President decided at that moment we don't have a free press.
BRZEZINSKI: It's a very challenging time.
