Scarborough: Trump is either ‘an agent of Russia’ or ‘a useful idiot’

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough speculated that President Trump is “either an agent of Russia or he’s a useful idiot,” during a discussion around public impeachment proceedings on “Morning Joe” on Thursday. 

 

Scarborough, who long enjoyed a good relationship with Trump that included largely friendly phone interviews before the two had a falling out as Trump clinched the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, did not provide evidence for his claim.  

“We will one day, but at the very least he’s a useful idiot or perhaps it’s what John Bolton is now saying in public, and that is Donald Trump’s foreign policy is not run by what’s in the best interest of the United States of America, it’s not run to protect the American people, it is run for what’s in the best interest of his bottom line and it’s run to protect his bank accounts,” Scarborough said. “It’s all about the money.”

Bolton is Trump’s former national security adviser. He resigned from the position under pressure from Trump in September.

Trump has not appeared on “Morning Joe” or MSNBC since May 2016, while Scarborough left the Republican Party after his election and became an independent. 

The commentary comes as the news cycle has been completely dominated by coverage of impeachment proceedings. 

On Wednesday, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS preempted their regularly scheduled programming for live coverage of the House Intelligence Committee’s open impeachment hearings of Trump. All of the major cable news networks, including Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and C-SPAN also offered live coverage and post-hearing analysis. 

Ratings showing total viewership and ratings for individual networks and channels are expected Thursday afternoon.