MSNBC's Joe Scarborough slams Trump for saying Sally Yates 'betrayed' the Justice Department: 'That's what an autocrat would use'

(Image credit: Screenshot/MSNBC)

published 31 January 2017

Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough didn't like President Trump's decision to fire acting Attorney General Sally Yates — but he was most upset by the words he used to do it. In the letter hand delivered to Yates late Monday, the White House said Yates had "betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States," referring to Trump's executive order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S., which Yates suggested was unlawful. "The word betrayed, using the word betrayed for somebody, that's frightening," Scarborough said Tuesday morning. "That's what an autocrat would use, whoever put that word in there."

Scarborough acknowledged the Trump administration likely had "a right" to remove Yates, who was appointed by Obama and serving until Trump's attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is confirmed. However, Scarborough thought it was a step too far to suggest someone "betrayed" the Justice Department just because "they don't agree with you." "Take that to Venezuela, okay?" Scarborough said. "We don't really want to use that sort of language here."