MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has been on the defense since his Saturday tweets implying that the suicide explanation for Jeffrey Epstein’s death seemed “predictably … Russian.”
Scarborough has called his comments “glib” and defended the comments in response to questions and criticisms from reporters over the weekend. On his show Monday, Scarborough echoed his “glib” defense and tried to clarify the comments:
“It makes no sense. There’s no way that the Justice Department should have left this man sitting in that jail cell by himself and there is no explanation that the attorney general, there’s no explanation the Bureau of Prisons can give,” Scarborough said. “There’s no explanation that anyone can give to explain why he was and whether that launches a million conspiracy theories or not, this attorney general and this President have a lot to answer for.”
Watch Scarborough attempt to clarify his Epstein comments below:
Joe Scarborough attempts to clarify his "Russian" Epstein death conspiracy tweet. pic.twitter.com/cS3129KMsY
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 12, 2019
Before that, Scarborough spent some time online over the weekend responding to criticism from journalists for suggesting there was a Russian connection to Epstein’s death.
Andrew, I never realized that a glib tweet of mine while drinking coffee would be taken by you as the inerrant word of God. Lighten up. The tweets following mocked conspiracy theories of the 90s and the New York Mets’ 9th inning comeback. Relax. https://t.co/oQD5eQAWc2
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
Oh yeah. I also tweeted about “Apocalypse Now” a few minutes later. Context, man.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
Andrew, you really need to relax, learn how to apply context, and also learn how to use the word “their”. Your self-righteousness and hysteria over a passing tweet is something. And if anybody at my network has a problem with a tweet, they’ve got my number. https://t.co/F4sAsqOmNx
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
Scarborough on Sunday doubled down on his “glib” defense in response to The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald and former New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald.
Glenn, forgive me for making a glib, offhanded comment while, yes, also poking fun at crazy conspiracy theories that Republicans tried to pin on Clinton in the 90s. I didn’t know you would interpret my glibness with the intensity of the Dead Sea Scrolls scholar.
Relax, buddy. https://t.co/foS2rbRkMt— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
I was also tweeting about the Mets and Francis Ford Coppala movies. All over a single cup of coffee.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
Scarborough ultimately sarcastically tweeted that he does not think Russians killed Epstein.
Dear Russians, if you are watching, I do not think you killed Jeffrey Epstein. But you did screw us in the 1972 Olympics basketball final.
PS—Thank you for helping us win World War II. And for Tolstoy. He’s good.— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 11, 2019
Scarborough was back on the defense Monday morning, reiterating his skepticism of the official account of Epstein’s “inexplicable death” via Twitter.
Bipartisan outrage is rising over Epstein’s inexplicable death. How could the Justice Department have allowed that to happen? Republicans and Democrats want to know.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 12, 2019
