Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” got riled up on Friday accusing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “willful ignorance” as Pompeo scoffed at Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s suggestion that China hack President Trump’s tax returns.
“Why should Russia have all the fun?” Clinton said. “And since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don’t we ask China to back us? Not only that. China, if you’re listening, why don’t you get Trump’s tax returns?” she said Wednesday on MSNBC.
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Her comments mirrored the language of Trump during a 2016 news conference where he said “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” in reference to Clinton’s emails.
“I hadn’t heard those comments before,” Pompeo told Fox News' Laura Ingraham Thursday in reaction to the clip of Clinton. “They don't remotely sound like what ought to be done by Americans, certainly not what President Trump and this administration is going to do.”
Pompeo also said Clinton turned a “willful blind eye” to the “power contest” among Russia, China and other foreign nations with the U.S. and added that the Trump administration is making sure “America is prepared so we can continue to be the world's leading power 10 20, 50 years from now.”
But the comments, which seemed sensible enough, enraged Scarborough, who launched into an unhinged attack.
“You look at Pompeo. He knew he was lying. The person listening to him knew he was lying. The viewers knew he was lying, but he didn’t care, he was trying to turn that lie into a truth,” Scarborough said.
The tit-for-tat is further evidence of a deep dived between the right and left about issues such as China’s threat to the U.S. intermingled with partisanship over findings in the Mueller report that ultimately did not charge Trump with obstruction of justice for colluding with the Russians during the 2016 elections.
Scarborough went on to criticize Attorney General William Barr of lying to Congress during a House Appropriations Committee hearing in April when Barr denied that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller or his team would have any objections to the summary presented by Barr of the Russia probe findings.
“Barr lied for the past several days and knew he was lying,” Scarborough said of Barr’s testimony on Wednesday. “He lied to Charlie Crist, he lied to the House, he lied to Van Holland he lied to the Senate. He committed a crime.”
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Several Democrats, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, have called for Barr to be charged with perjury for lying during last month’s hearing.