White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Tuesday defended President Trump for promoting a conspiracy theory about the 2001 death of a woman who worked for then-Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.).
Speaking at a White House press briefing, McEnany argued that the theory recently amplified by the president was not “an original Trump thought” and that reporters should direct their questions about the matter to Scarborough.
McEnany faced a barrage of questions during Tuesday’s briefing about Trump’s tweets promoting an unsubstantiated theory alleging Scarborough, now a co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” was at fault in the death of Lori Klausutis, an aide who worked in his Florida office when he served in Congress.
McEnany said Trump hadn’t seen a letter from Klausutis’s husband that accused the president of promoting “horrifying lies.” He also asked Twitter to remove the tweets.
“Our hearts are with Lori’s family at this time,” McEnany said before arguing the scrutiny should be on Scarborough. She pointed to a 2003 appearance on Don Imus’s radio program in which Imus can be heard telling a joke about the death of an intern and Scarborough is heard laughing.
“I would note that the president said this morning that this is not an original Trump thought, and it is not,” McEnany said when asked why Trump was making an unfounded accusation. “It was Don Imus and Joe Scarborough that joked about killing an intern, joked and laughed about it.”
“That was, I’m sure, pretty hurtful to Lori’s family and Joe Scarborough himself brought this up with Don Imus and Joe Scarborough himself can answer it,” McEnany added.
She later accused Scarborough and his co-host Mika Brzezinski of spreading “false accusations” about Trump by blaming him for the coronavirus death toll and saying people would die from taking hydroxychloroquine.
McEnany repeatedly tried to deflect questions about the president’s tweets by pointing back to the clip from Imus’s radio program.
In the clip, which was recently resurfaced and reported on by the conservative news site the Daily Caller, Imus can be heard saying, “Don’t be afraid to be funny, because you are funny. I asked you why you weren’t in Congress. You said you had sex with an intern and had to kill her.” Scarborough then laughs and replies, “What are you gonna do?”
Shortly after Tuesday’s press briefing, Brzezinski, who is married to Scarborough, accused McEnany of lying, saying Imus made the “callous joke” during a commercial break and later repeated it on air.
“Joe was embarrassed and said, ‘What are you going to do?’ trying to move on to talk about the show. No lies can cover up the hatefulness of Donald Trump,” Brzezinski tweeted.
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McEnany defends Trump for promoting conspiracy theory about death of Scarborough aide https://t.co/LqeJv4M7qd pic.twitter.com/oBlkRoi40f
— The Hill (@thehill) May 26, 2020
The widower of a woman whose 2001 death has become fodder for baseless conspiracy theories spread by President Donald Trump is appealing directly to the head of Twitter to take down the president‘s tweets https://t.co/R7R3noymsR pic.twitter.com/SfwMrpi1GB
— POLITICO (@politico) May 26, 2020
Reporter: "Why can't this widower get peace from the President?"
Press Sec. Kayleigh McEnany: "I've already asked and answered this question."
Reporter: "You did not ask and answer this question." pic.twitter.com/pVEdPkqx8u
— The Hill (@thehill) May 26, 2020
Defending false and malicious conspiracy theories propagated by POTUS – and more. It's almost as if the briefing was meant to validate the @JonahDispatch critique from Sunday. https://t.co/KFdqXrb4YH
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) May 26, 2020
This is exactly right from @JonahDispatch. "Walking Twitter troll" is basically the job description of a Trump defender. Pay no attention to the incompetence, conspiracy theories, and ravings of the most powerful man in the world. The REAL imperative is dunking on CNN. https://t.co/qoZMmdK6RQ
— David French (@DavidAFrench) May 24, 2020
Reporter: "Have you seen the letter that was written by her husband begging Twitter to delete your tweets, talking about how hard it's been for his family, for him?"
President Trump: "Yeah, I have but I'm sure that ultimately they want to get to the bottom of it." pic.twitter.com/wcevZf1Fzt
— The Hill (@thehill) May 26, 2020
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) May 26, 2020
Maybe “seen” means he saw the piece of paper but didn’t actually read it? https://t.co/zX4LFL9Qne
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 26, 2020
Biden just now, when asked why he apologizes when Trump says a ton of offensive things and never apologizes: “If I say something offensive, I should apologize.” I remember when this was the way normal adults thought about life.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2020
The President tripling and quadrupling down on the Scarborough accusation – and just brushing off the wishes of the family – is just another reminder that he stop at nothing, no matter how awful, when he feels threatened.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 26, 2020
What Trump strategists think:
“You know if he’d just behaved like a normal president over Memorial Day weekend, we’d still be beating up Biden on ‘you ain’t black.’ But he stepped all over it.”What they say to Trump “This Scarborough stuff is Gold! You’re a genius, sir!
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 26, 2020
Remember when we had Republican presidents who were able to do their job without falsely accusing people of being a murderer? Those were the days. But I guess they're gone now.
— Scott Whitlock (@ScottJW) May 26, 2020
Swell! Another bimbo on Trump’s team.
So it’s ok for Trump to spread a debunked conspiracy theory because others have done it before him? What kind of a justification is that?
Bottom line is there is no way to justify Trump’s continued spread of a phony story about a young woman’s death, especially since doing so has caused so much hurt to that woman’s family. A grownup would apologize to the family and cease spreading the story around. But as we all know, Trump’s maturity stopped at about age 12 or less.
I hope she sees this bro. pic.twitter.com/ugh0Ob1A39
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 27, 2020
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