Joe Scarborough opened Morning Joe with fire Thursday, tearing into Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for what he called a “wild” and baseless claim that former President Barack Obama created the Trump-Russia collusion story in 2016.
Gabbard made the explosive statement at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, calling the origins of the Russia investigation a “treasonous conspiracy.” This comes despite years of investigations — including one led by Republicans in the Senate — that confirmed Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.
Scarborough mocked Gabbard’s performance, slamming his desk and sarcastically applauding her:
“Tulsi Gabbard, what was that yesterday? Seriously, talk about playing down to the lowest of low expectations! Tulsi, congratulations! You just did it!”
He held his hand just above the desk.
“I think expectations may have been here,” he said. Then he dropped it below the desk.
“And I think you may have gotten—can’t even see it on the TV screen—but if you can see my right hand to be down here.”
He hit a call bell on his desk.
“Tulsi Gabbard, you [ringing the bell] are the winner of actually meeting the lowest of low expectations that were laid out for you.”
Scarborough warned that these types of accusations only create more chaos.
“Maybe the president thinks, ‘hey, let’s throw as much against the wall as we can throw against the wall,’” he said.
He cited a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Karl Rove, saying there are consequences to pushing conspiracy theories.
“They’re actually seeing that price and they’re making these wild, outrageous claims. And I just—I don’t think it helps the president. I know it sure doesn’t help the country.”
Scarborough added that even if Gabbard’s theory were true, it wouldn’t matter legally.
“Even if your wild, crazy conspiracy theories were right, they would be irrelevant,” he said, pointing to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
Co-host Jonathan Lemire joked, “Yeah, I heard you hit the bell there talking about,” prompting Scarborough to slam the bell again.
“That underscores where we are,” Scarborough said. “You know, sometimes when you have baseball parks in the summer, somebody’s hitting a grand slam… maybe fireworks will go up. But here on Morning Joe, we ring the bell when Tulsi Gabbard meets her low expectations.”
Watch the full segment below from MSNBC:
