Mika Brzezinksi and Joe Scarborough. Photo courtesy of Vanity Fair.
Summary: The hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe claim Donald Trump tried to blackmail them.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinkski have become the latest ire of Donald Trump, and the two media personalities now claim the President is out to get them.
On Thursday morning, Trump insulted the Morning Joe hosts on Twitter. He said that Scarborough was a “psycho” and Brezinkski had a “low IQ” and had a “facelift.” Brezkinskski responded immediately on Twitter with a picture of a Cheerios box that said “Made for small hands,” a reference to Trump’s claim that he had big hands and thus a big penis.
But the feud didn’t end there. On Friday, the Morning Joe hosts claimed on MSNBC that Trump had threatened to have a hit piece written about them in the National Enquirer if they did not change their unfavorable coverage.
“We got a call that, ‘Hey, the National Enquirer is going to run a negative story against you guys…’ And they said, ‘If you call the president up, and you apologize for your coverage, then he will pick up the phone and basically spike this story,” Scarborough said on air.
After the program, Trump responded on Twitter, “FAKE NEWS,” to the shocking blackmail claim.
According to CNN, Scarborough claims to have proof that the White House is threatening him. On Twitter, he replied to the president, “I have texts from your top aides and phone records.”
While it is unclear so far if Scarborough can prove his allegation, there are two coincidental facts to consider. One, the well-known supermarket tabloid had published a negative story about Scarborough and Brzezinski’s relationship in June, and two, Trump is friends with David Pecker, the magazine’s publisher.
However, Dylan Howard, the editor-in-charge of the magazine told CNN that National Enquirer had no knowledge of the alleged hit piece.
“We have no knowledge of any discussions between the White House and Joe and Mika about our story, and absolutely no involvement in those discussions,” Howard said.
Scarborough and Brzezinski are cohosts and engaged, and in June, the National Enquirer wrote a detailed story about their past marriages and how the two began their relationship. Howard said that the story was accurate and not a threat to the hosts or their children, but Brzezinksi said she felt threatened when the magazine interviewed her family and close friends.
In addition to making their Trump allegation on Morning Joe, Scarborough and Brzezinski described the alleged blackmail in a Washington Post column on Friday.