MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough addressed President Donald Trump’s speculation about his alleged involvement in the death of his former staffer decades ago.
The “Morning Joe” host has for years pushed back against baseless rumors — now spread by the president — that he was somehow involved in the July 2001 death of his 28-year-old staffer Loris Klausutis.
“I know all too well how much T.J. [Klausutis] has suffered, and how much — he’s told me his family has suffered,” Scarborough said. “You know, he says, in the letter, that the president has taken something that doesn’t belong to him, the memory of his dead wife, and perverted it for perceived political gain.”
Her husband has asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to remove Trump’s tweet from the platform.
“I would also ask that you consider Lori’s niece and two nephews who will eventually come across this filth in the future. They have never met their Aunt and it pains me to think they would ever have to about her this way,” Klausutis wrote to Dorsey. “My wife deserves better.”
Scarborough said the smears against him had actually hurt his late staffer’s husband and other family members the most.
“You know, that’s something that he has had to deal with for 19 years, whether it was, you know, from the far left of the internet, or from Katherine Harris several years later on the internet, or from a far-left website on the internet, or from the president of the United States,” Scarborough said. “You know, every time they spread these lies, they’re hurting the family. There are parallels that [New York Times contributing writer] Kara Swisher talks about, with Sandy Hook, the Sandy Hook truthers, and with the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. Except, as Kara writes, this is perhaps even worse because the lies, the conspiracy theories, the hate speech is being spread by the president of the United States.”