“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough took to Twitter Sunday to criticize a former CBS reporter for saying he partied with President-elect Donald Trump at his New Year’s Eve party.
His tweet-storm targeted Sopan Deb, who covered Trump on the campaign trail and will soon be joining The New York Times as a culture writer. Deb posted a screenshot of a paragraph from a New York Times report that noted Scarborough and MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinski’s presence at Trump’s Florida party.
“Partied? You’re very good at pushing fake news. You should write for CNN. Apparently making up facts is fine if you’re writing about us,” Scarborough responded.
He pointed out he had called Trump’s campaign “racist, xenophobic and disqualifying” and repeatedly criticized Deb.
Scarborough called Deb “a hack” for suggesting he partied with Trump.
“Last year, Trump publicly thanked David Axelrod for his support. Stop being such a hack,” he wrote.
“One of the more entertaining aspects of media coverage of media is how so many who blast Trump for half truths attack us with half truths,” he continued.
Scarborough said he was at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., before the party to try to set up an interview with the president-elect.
“Nothing that Mika and I did in setting up this meeting was any different than what all good reporters and news hosts try to do daily,” he said, adding, “I hope we get the interview.”
Deb eventually responded to Scarborough.
“Agreed! Facts matter: so you weren’t at Mar-A-Lago on New Years Eve? You called it fake news, so let’s get this right.”
He followed up by saying he should have said “attended,” rather than “partied” in his original tweet.
Scarborough thanked him, but again clarified that he “did not ‘attend’ the party.”
–This report was updated on Jan. 2 at 10:50 a.m.