Mika Brzezinski tees off on Biden accuser’s demand for apology: ‘Completely ridiculous!’

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski said on Tuesday that it is “completely ridiculous” for Lucy Flores to demand an apology from former Vice President Joe Biden for inappropriately touching her at a campaign event in 2014. 

“I can promise you, I know Joe Biden. He went up behind her and took a deep breath because he was about to go on stage,” Brzezinski said during a panel discussion on “Morning Joe.”

{mosads}”He was going on stage, he took a deep breath before he went on stage and you took it deeply personally, and now you’re writing a New York Times op-ed about it demanding an apology?” she asked, addressing Flores. “This once again is completely ridiculous, and the rest of America thinks it’s ridiculous, too.”

“I’m done. You guys can continue to talk about this, I won’t. I refuse to give it any more time,” the co-host concluded.

Flores in a New York Times op-ed on Monday demanded Biden apologize for an incident that she said occurred when she was running for lieutenant governor of Nevada. She said the former vice president and current 2020 Democratic presidential candidate kissed her on the back of her head and smelled her hair before going on stage. 

“You did something bad and it caused harm,” Flores wrote. “A basic sense of decency urges you to take measures to, at worst, express how sorry you are, and at best, do something to right the wrong.”

“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, who is also Brzezinski’s husband, agreed with Brzezinski on Monday, stating that Flores should have said something to Biden “in real time” when the incident occurred.

“If somebody’s uncomfortable with it, they can tell him in real time … but to suggest that there was something malicious in what he was doing, or that he was getting his kicks from doing that? Sorry, there’s about 45 years of public experience that suggests that’s just not true.”

The accusations of inappropriate touching come as Biden has taken a commanding 14-point lead in the 2020 Democratic race, according to a Morning Consult national poll released Tuesday, with 36 percent support.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) comes in second, with 22 percent. All other Democratic candidates are mired in the single digits, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at 9 percent and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 8 percent.