MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski sparred over the significance of Vice President Mike Pence hiring his own lawyer to handle the widening Russia probe.
Scarborough argued that Pence's move was simply prudent, recalling when members of President Bill Clinton's administration hired outside counsel during his impeachment, regardless of their own guilt.
"It's what you do, so when people see this, media shouldn't report this as if it's the beginning of the end" the "Morning Joe" host said.
Brzezinski disagreed, which opened a brief quarrel with her co-host.
"We also shouldn't pretend this is normal -- just saying," she said. "The vice president hired a lawyer."
"No, no, no, no," Scarborough interjected. "That's the shrillness."
"I'm trying to level you out," Brezinski replied. "You're acting like you just scratched yourself. It's not like he got a lawyer, let's move on. In other news, flowers grow. I mean, come on."
Scarborough said members of both the Clinton and Bush administrations had hired lawyers but were never charged with anything, and Brzezinski asked if he really thought those situations were comparable.
"Yes, I think Mike Pence has to get a lawyer because if he goes before the Senate he's going to be having six, seven, eight, nine lawyers asking, if he is interviewed by the special prosecutor, he's going to have four, five, six, seven lawyers interviewing him.," Scarbrough said. "He would be a fool, as would anybody, not to hire a lawyer. I'm not saying -- who knows? Maybe he speaks Russian. Maybe he was a KGB agent. Maybe he's the worst human being -- I'm not saying anything other than this is normal in the matter of course when these investigations start up, everybody around the president has to hire a lawyer."
