The bizarre reason why Trump didn't pick disgraced Petraeus as secretary of state: MSNBC's Morning Joe

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough revealed that President Donald Trump complained bitterly that he was unable to pick a disgraced general as his first secretary of state.

The "Morning Joe" host said Trump wanted to nominate retired four-star general David Petraeus, who was forced to resign in 2012 as CIA director over an extramarital affair and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified material.

"Donald Trump actually told me that he couldn't pick Petraeus as his secretary of state because all the other generals told him that he had violated a sacred trust he had been given," Scarborough said. "Just a little footnote to this question."

Lawyers for Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, cited the Petraeus case in hopes of keeping their client, also a retired U.S. Army general, from serving a prison term for lying to FBI agents investigating his contacts with Russia.

"The judge wasn't buying any of it," said former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. "For this judge, it was the wrong way of teeing up the issues."

Co-host Mika Brzezinski said the president may have ultimately decided against Petraeus for a more superficial reason.

"He said he works out too much," Brzezinski said.

Scarborough said the president believed Petraeus would use up his daily energy too soon after waking up.

"He said anybody that works out that hard in the morning, it is a misuse of your energies," Scarborough said.