President-elect Donald Trump has revealed stunning new details of his meeting with MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski at his Mar-a-Lago estate last week in an exclusive interview with Fox News. The meeting took place at the co-hosts’ request, according to Trump, and was amicable despite the fact that the Morning Joe crew had been wildly critical of — and often wrong about — Trump throughout his term in office and during the four years of Biden-Harris.
“I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika, and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place,” Trump said. “We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning at 8:00.” Trump said the meeting was “extremely cordial.” “Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication,” he said. “In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.”
Trump added that they “congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a campaign where I worked long and hard — perhaps longer and harder than any presidential candidate in history. We talked about various Cabinet members — both announced and to be announced. As expected, they like some very much, but not all,” Trump said. “The meeting ended in a very positive manner, and we agreed to speak in the future.” Trump added, “I expect this will take place with others in the media, even those that have been extremely hostile.”
Trump welcomed them to his Florida estate, where he appeared upbeat and eager to reframe his MAGA agenda to resonate with the show’s progressive audience. During their Monday show, the co-hosts gave their views of the meeting. “On Friday we were given the opportunity” to meet with Trump and express concerns about some of his appointments, Brzezinski announced. “Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years.” Scarborough added that the three talked about “a lot of issues including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets,” a not-so-veiled reference to colleagues like Rachel Maddow who has insisted Trump will put her in a concentration-style camp. But while both sides obviously don’t see eye to eye on many things, “what we did agree on was to restart communications,” Brzezinski added.
“We had not spoken to President Trump since March of 2016 other than a personal call Joe made to President Trump on the morning after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. In this meeting, he was cheerful, he was upbeat, he seemed… interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues. And for those asking why we would go speak with the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we?” she added.
“Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country. We have been as clear as we know how in expressing our deep concerns about President Trump’s words and actions in the coarsening of public debate. But for nearly eighty million Americans, election denialism, public trials, and January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote,” she said. “Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but talking with him.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: Morning Joe hosts Mika and Joe met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
“It is the first time we have seen him in 7 years.”
“What we did agree on is to restart communications.”pic.twitter.com/Eck1OKJCpq
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 18, 2024
