'Preposterous!' MSNBC host left staggered by excuse for latest Trump scandal

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough ripped into Republicans this week for seemingly turning a blind eye to a controversial pardon signed off on by President Donald Trump that critics have labeled as blatant “corruption.”

Last month, Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, a Trump ally and cryptocurrency billionaire who was convicted of having facilitated billions of dollars’ worth of transactions tied to child-sex-abuse material and drug trafficking. The 21st-richest person on earth, Zhao had also helped enrich the Trump family by more than $1 billion.

During an interview on “60 Minutes” earlier this week, Trump claimed to not know who Zhao was, something that Scarborough struggled to comprehend in his show.

“If I understand, the [Trump] family got a $2 billion investment from this guy, is that correct?” Scarborough said. “And this guy undermined American national security by helping terrorist groups like Hamas move terrorist money around, is that what the president is saying, [that] he had no idea he was pardoning a guy that was helping Hamas move terrorist money around?”

Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC correspondent and political commentator, affirmed Scarborough’s reading of the situation, claiming “everything” Scarborough said “is right.”

“Yeah, the autopen strikes again, I guess!” Lemire said. “It's either he doesn't know – which is preposterous – or, of course, he does know, and he simply thinks that denying it on national television is a better look for him.”

Scarborough went on to criticize Republican lawmakers for their past fixation on the son of former President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and his alleged involvement in corruption scandals, such as the White House’s auctions of his paintings.

“Here we have the same people that melted down for years over that [but are] cool about Qatari jets, $2 billion in cryptocurrency, Trump meme coins... the things that they freaked out, melted down [over] and investigated are 1/1,000, if that, of [Trump’s controversial decisions],” Scarborough said.

“South Park wouldn't even touch this because it would be such a stupid, stupid parody of what actually the Republican Party has become!”