Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough issued an apology to Sen. Ted Cruz and Vice President Mike Pence after retweeting a selectively edited clip making fun of Pence.
After feuding with the Texas Republican on Friday, Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida turned media pundit on MSNBC, apologized on Saturday, saying he felt bad about retweeting a deceptive video and then arguing with Cruz about it on Twitter.
“About last night: I gotta work on some things myself. I feel really bad about retweeting the Jimmy Kimmel video,” Scarborough tweeted. “I feel worse about being provoked. I apologize again to Mike Pence, to my Twitter followers, and to Ted. I’ve got to do better.”
Scarborough retweeted a video from Kimmel’s late-night show, which made it seems like Pence was delivering empty boxes of personal protective equipment to a rehabilitation center in Virginia.
After it was pointed out that the segment was deceptive, as the full video shows the vice president unloading boxes from a van and afterward he made a “just for the camera” joke about empty boxes, Kimmel apologized for the clip.
Cruz criticized Scarborough for retweeting the video from Kimmel, tweeting: “Hmm. When you’re on the defensive for being dishonest & corrupt, perhaps best not to forward fraudulent stories from Jimmy Kimmel (that he’s admitted were false)? You are claiming to be a journalist, after all….”
Scarborough quickly hit back at the Texas Republican.
“Ted, when I make a mistake I admit it. You remain mired in shame because you kowtow to a man who called your wife ugly and said your daddy assassinated JFK. Me messing up a tweet or two will never erase the shame you carry every day of your life,” he said.
The online spat dragged on with Cruz accusing Scarborough of being an “indignant paragon of virtue” and Scarborough suggesting Cruz sold his soul to President Trump.
“The difference between you and me is the closer Trump got to power, the more I criticized him,” Scarborough said. “The closer Trump got to power, the more you sold your soul to him.”
