Joe Scarborough completely loses it over his own party releasing 'false' and 'reckless' memo none have read

In a scathing opener, "Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough was ruthless in his criticism of the Republican Party, for which Scarborough once represented in Congress.

"You had [Rep. Devin] Nunes' (R-CA) memo, which twists the truth and plays these crude political games with highly secret intelligence," Scarborough said. "Mika, most of the Republicans who voted to release this controversial memo, that the Justice Department said would be extraordinarily reckless, had never even read the memo. And many who did read Nunes' memo say it falsely summarized a reality and filled with all of these falsehoods and these, these misleading conclusions, all in an attempt to slur law enforcement officers, that Donald Trump -- I don't know how I should say this, he's targeted them for a political purge."

Scarborough noted that Trump can't seem to get out of his own way and today should be about his first State of the Union Address, instead it's become about the Nunes' memo

"So, this is a cynical game that Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Devin Nunes that anybody that empowers Devin Nunes is playing," he continued. "They push to release a memo that is distorted by what's in it, and what's distorted by what is not in it. And they know that will misinform the public but they also know this, Mika -- they know that the facts that would actually allow Americans to know the entire truth about what happened, are so highly classified, that guess what, the public will never get to see those details."

Political analysts have noted that the GOP accused Hillary Clinton of mishandling classified information -- yet, the GOP is doing exactly that in the release of the memo. If the information is inaccurate, it could also propel the willingness of intelligence leaders who know the facts to release such information publicly.

"So, Ryan and Nunes want to release a half-truth that turns out to be a whole lie," Scarborough said. "A twisted and distorted lie. Since Ryan thinks the public will never learn the full facts, he and Nunes can skate by on their lie. They can smear the men and women of the FBI. They can smear the professionals at the Justice Department, who said this would be really reckless to put out there. They can smear distinguished FISA judges and they can smear the entire intelligence community by extension. All to take part in a sleazy political purge that we've been seeing unfolding before our eyes, to feed the paranoid and maniacal desires of Donald Trump."

He went on to call the GOP, including Ryan and Nunes "reckless" and noted that it is all in service to help Trump commit obstructions of justice. The panel went on to call out the hypocrisy of the GOP for proclaiming "blue lives matter" while simultaneously "cherry-picking classified intelligence" to bring down the head law enforcement institutions of the government.

Scarborough noted that it's curious given the way the GOP responded to 9/11 with the Patriot Act and intense surveillance that increased authorities.

Watch the hard-hitting commentary below: