The hosts of “Morning Joe” took the Trump administration to task Friday morning over its handling of CNN, Politico and MS NOW’s press access to the White House yesterday, warning that “justice will be done for people in this administration ignoring court orders.”
On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s move to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over the organizations’ alleged “fake news” reporting on him and his administration. Despite that, journalists from those outlets struggled to regain access throughout the day Thursday, including during Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The Secret Service confiscated the [press] badges of those who tried to get in. Who gave them that order? Because whoever gave them that order should go to jail,” host Joe Scarborough said Friday. “That’s contempt of court. There’s an order out there. I really want to know what happened yesterday morning.”
“There will be a time when justice will be done for people in this administration ignoring court orders,” Scarborough continued. “There will be a time when the masks will be taken off of ICE agents and justice will be done for every person that they beat, for every person that they jailed, for every person that they starved, for every person that they tortured. That time is coming.”
“I want to know,” he added. “It’s time to start writing this down, and it’s time to start preparing for that day when Donald Trump is not there to protect you.”
You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself below.
“Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire noted that MS NOW White House Reporter Laura Barrón-López was barred entry from Trump’s state dinner with President Xi at the White House on Thursday night. He added that Barrón-López was told to talk to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung but that the latter “did not respond” to her inquiries.
“I don’t even know Steven Cheung. But is Steven Cheung the guy who is ordering these people to be in contempt of a federal judge’s order?” Scarborough asked in response. “I want to know who is saying, ‘Ignore a federal judge’s order,’ because it sounds a lot like Watergate to me.”
The White House’s official Rapid Response account tweeted that MS NOW and CNN journalists had been denied entry to the dinner because it was a “pre-credentialed event.” The tweet added, “Contrary to what the Fake News wants you to believe, they don’t just get to have free rein into every part of the White House, every event, and every press call.”
Barrón-López said Thursday that the event was a “pretty typical” one for press to be in attendance for. Scarborough, meanwhile, took great issue with the Rapid Response account’s use of “fake news” Thursday night.
“I love [that] the people that lie every day for a living, literally lie every day for a living, can still, all these years later, use the words ‘fake news,’” the “Morning Joe” host observed. “When they have been caught lying through their teeth repeatedly, well, over the past decade.”
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