MSNBC's Joe Scarborough called on newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from any election-related cases.
The "Morning Joe" host agreed with panelist John Heilemann, who said President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have made clear they're willing to lie, cheat and steal to maintain their hold on the White House and the U.S. Senate.
"I think in these closing days it's easy for us all to forget that they would start to treat this like a normal campaign with a normal president who treats the process with respect," Heilemann said. "This is a president who has telegraphed his desire to try to steal this election for the last six months, and now as we're starting to see these long lines, these various questions about the Supreme Court intervening in the Wisconsin case, the court fights happening, particularly in those three Great Lakes, Midwest states."
Heilemann said Joe Biden's polling position in those swing states appears strong, but he said the president's strategy is focused on the days after the election.
"The president's strategy for how to win in those states extends beyond Election Day, and extends in realms that are legal and sometimes extralegal," he said. "I think no one in the Democratic Party should rest on what the sense of security about anything that they're seeing in any of these closing days' polls. This could be a knife fight that goes on well after Election Day."
Scarborough agreed the GOP strategy seemed to be focused on limiting the number of votes that would be cast or counted, and he said that was why Barrett was rushed onto the court before Election Day.
"The president's team has said they just want to keep the states close enough so they can have legal challenges and they can take to the Supreme Court," Scarborough said, "and now, of course, Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, and Donald Trump bragged to his crowds even before he named her that he was going rush through a pick so he could have somebody that would help him win his election fights -- which, of course, if she doesn't remove herself from those cases, then, of course, that would forever tarnish her legacy at the Supreme Court."
"Let me say that again," he added. "When the president and [Sen.] Ted Cruz both say we need to get somebody on the Supreme Court to rule in our favor for any election challenges and then that person is output on the Supreme Court, select and put on the Supreme Court, after that, obviously you volunteer to remove yourself from consideration of that case or you undermine your credibility."
