MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted President Donald Trump's "catch-and-release program for domestic terrorists," after a white nationalist Coast Guard lieutenant was approved for release despite making threats against media figures and Democratic officials.
Trump's Justice Department has not pressed terrorism charges against the officer -- who threatened Scarborough and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others -- so a federal judge approved the suspect for release, which outraged the "Morning Joe" host.
Scarborough said he would be watching how the Justice Department handled another threat, by a U.S. Army veteran who plotted to set off a bomb at a Southern California rally by a right-wing group as retribution for the New Zealand mosque shooting, along with possible attacks against Jews, churches and police officers.
"It will be fascinating to see if we have a catch-and-release policy for domestic terrorists," Scarborough said. "Of course, right now the Justice Department does have a catch-and-release program for domestic terrorists."
"Donald Trump is so soft on crime, he is so weak and soft on crime that he actually had a guy that had this incredible stockpile of weapons, was a drug addict, had a manifesto that was inspired by a white nationalist that killed over 70 people in Norway, and Donald Trump is so weak, so flaccid, that he actually allowed this man to walk."
Scarborough said he would also be watching to see the Trump administration's response to a mass shooter who killed one and injured three others at a San Diego synagogue.
"We'll see if the same thing happens in San Diego and whether the Justice Department under Donald Trump, because he says it's his Justice Department, is really that toothless and weak, and let Americans die," Scarborough said. "I've got to say, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter -- not on their watch. They wouldn't be so weak and timid and impotent to let a domestic terrorist go."
"That is exactly what the U.S. attorney in that district did, and that is what the Justice Department did, and, of course, that is what Donald Trump wants you to think, that that's his Justice Department," Scarborough added. "Make no mistake, somebody who wanted to assassinate Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, (Sen.) Kirsten Gillibrand and other Democratic candidates running against Donald Trump, they're out of jail now. Oh, are you that weak, Donald? Let's see if you're just as weak and feckless -- this is one of the most liberal catch-and-release programs I've seen in my life."
