Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough on Friday detailed their account of what happened when they visited President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in December.Their account comes a day after Trump viciously went after Brzezinski for "bleeding badly from a face-lift" while she was at the estate.
The "Morning Joe" co-hosts, who are set to be married, detailed their story in a Washington Post op-ed and on Friday's edition of "Morning Joe."
"Mr. Trump claims that we asked to join him at Mar-a-Lago three nights in a row," they wrote. "That is false. He also claimed that he refused to see us. That is laughable."
The co-hosts wrote that Trump invited them both to dinner on December 30. Scarborough attended because Brzezinski "did not want to go."
"After listening to the president-elect talk about his foreign policy plans, Joe was asked by a disappointed Mr. Trump the next day if Mika could also visit Mar-a-Lago that night," they wrote. "She reluctantly agreed to go. After we arrived, the president-elect pulled us into his family's living quarters with his wife, Melania, where we had a pleasant conversation. We politely declined his repeated invitations to attend a New Year's Eve party, and we were back in our car within 15 minutes."
Speaking specifically about Trump's face-lift accusation, the pair cited public photos that refuted the claim.
"Putting aside Mr. Trump's never-ending obsession with women's blood, Mika and her face were perfectly intact, as pictures from that night reveal," they wrote. "And though it is no one's business, the president's petulant personal attack against yet another woman's looks compels us to report that Mika has never had a face-lift. If she had, it would be evident to anyone watching 'Morning Joe' on their high-definition TV. She did have a little skin under her chin tweaked, but this was hardly a state secret."
Trump's tweets aimed at the co-hosts, and more specifically Brzezinski, became the lead story of Thursday's news cycle soon after he sent his final tweet on the subject just before 9 a.m. ET.
"I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore)," Trump tweeted. "Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe [Scarborough,] came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"
The tweets were widely decried by the left and right, with a number of Republican members of Congress pointing to the recent shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise as a reason why such harsh rhetoric in American politics needs to be toned down.
Trump's tweets appeared to be in response to a Thursday morning segment on the show when Brzezinski mocked the president for hanging up a fake Time magazine cover featuring himself at several of his golf clubs and properties, which the Post reported earlier this week.
Trump has had a longstanding contentious relationship with the MSNBC hosts that extends through much of his presidential bid and subsequent presidency. Before Trump ran for president, Brzezinski and Scarborough were friendly with him, and they were initially receptive to his candidacy. But they have since pivoted to criticizing him heavily on-air. In turn, Trump has both praised the pair and ripped them on social media.
On Friday's show, Brzezinski said "it was amazing how many lies he packed into two tweets." Scarborough said Trump "attacks women; he fears women," adding that he believes Trump has a 'really disturbing obsession with Mika."
Brzezinski said she was "fine" after the attack, adding that her family "brought me up really tough."
"This is absolutely nothing for me personally," she said. "But I'm very concerned about what this once again reveals about the president of the United States. ... It does worry me about the country."
"We're okay," Scarborough said. "The country is not."