Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski thrashed former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean Thursday for his "jihad" against the author of a book critical of the Clintons.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Clinton Global Initiative accepted millions of dollars from a Russian oil company when the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, was approving a deal that would give Russians control of the company Uranium One and bring Vladimir Putin "closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain." The charges are part of Peter Schweizer's book Clinton Cash.
Dean, rather than directly address the Clintons' latest problem, went after Schweizer for taking money from "billionaires" who "support Ted Cruz," essentially arguing that anything his book revealed should be dismissed because of his conservative political leanings.
Yet, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough pointed out outlets such as the New York Times and others were doing legitimate reporting off the accusations in Schweizer's work.
"So forget the author at this point," Brzezinski said. "If the facts are true, we need to pursue that. You can go on your little jihad against the author, but it's not going to change the facts. The facts are the facts."
"I'm raising the same issue about the author that he's raising about [Clinton]," Dean said.
"Fine, go ahead," she said, gesturing at him. "Have fun!"
The bombshell article reported that shortly after the Russians announced their intention to purchase a majority stake in Uranium One, former President Bill Clinton "received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock."
Dean also drew the ire of Times reporter Jeremy Peters, who took exception to Dean's accusation against his newspaper of "sloppy" reporting.
Brzezinski leans left, but she refreshingly will call out absurdist spin when she sees it. She memorably told left-wing Media Matters founder David Brock she wasn't "sure what planet you're on right now" as he tried unsuccessfully to excuse Clinton's use of a private email account at the State Department.