Apparently it was Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, who told Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough that he'd have to "personally apologize" to Trump if he wanted to stop a story about him from being published in the National Enquirer, New York's Gabriel Sherman reported Friday.
Sherman reported that Kushner and Scarborough texted in "mid-April" about the story, which was about Scarborough's romantic relationship with his co-host Mika Brzezinski, which was not public at the time. Trump was apparently upset about the tough coverage Morning Joe had given him since his inauguration, and Kushner reportedly told Scarborough that he'd have to apologize about this if he wanted Trump to intervene and stop the story from running.
Scarborough refused, and on June 5, the Enquirer published a story titled, "Morning Joe Sleazy Cheating Scandal!"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Brzezinski and Scarborough first revealed Trump's alleged blackmailing attempts in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Friday, the day after Trump fired off nasty tweets about the TV hosts. In the tweets, Trump called Brzezinski "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and Scarborough "Psycho Joe."
Brzezinski and Scarborough mentioned that "top White House staff members" warned them about the story, but they hadn't disclosed who that staff member was.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.