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'Morning Joe' Bases Entire Segment on San Juan Mayor 'Apology' off False Subtitle

October 4, 2017

A panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday falsely reported an "apology" that never took place between San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and President Donald Trump and was based on an inaccurate subtitle.

Leading up to the president's visit to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Tuesday, Trump and the San Juan mayor had exchanged jabs over Twitter and through television over the disaster response.

The next day, the "Morning Joe" panel showed a clip of the initial interaction between Trump and Cruz upon his arrival in Puerto Rico. The video included incomplete subtitles, reading:

"Sir, I don't want to upset you [Inaudible], but it's not about politics."

This statement was interpreted as an apology by panel members who included Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Harold Ford Jr., and John Heilemann. They criticized Trump as a result.

"She had to apologize to him, and she's out trying to deliver and take care of people in her city," Ford said. "He ought to be ashamed of himself."

While MSNBC used incomplete subtitles Wednesday morning, network host Joy Reid used Cruz's complete statement when she interviewed the San Juan mayor on Tuesday's episode of "The Rachel Maddow Show."

Cruz's actual comment to Trump was: "Sir, it's all about saving lives. It's not about politics."

https://youtu.be/0CyMk9lgnL4

There is no mention of the mayor being "sorry" or making an "apology."

Following the mayor's comment, Trump said, "Good. Thank you, thank you everybody," and proceeded to start a meeting with local and federal officials on the hurricane response effort.

Despite the nonexistent apology, the "Morning Joe" panel took a deep dive into the falsely presented statement, which had been correctly presented on its own network less than 12 hours earlier.

"You know how this goes: the president comes to your district, your people are facing enormous suffering, and you just can't afford to upset the president," Scarborough said.

"And notice, she's a woman," Brzezinski added.

"For people that are outraged that she apologized to him, your outrage should all be to the president of the United States. She was actually being a leader. Even though she was in the right, she knew she had to say that," Scarborough said.

Scarborough continued to slam Trump for his "lack of humanity."

"And, of course, because he lacks any humanity, and he is the most graceless president to be in the Oval Office in our history, he turns his head and say nothing," he added.

Ford then described the "apology" as the "nicest, more gracious way" to apologize.

"When that mayor said 'I apologize that is not what it's about.' She said it in the nicest, most gracious of way. He gave us the normal Donald Trump 'thank you.'" Ford said.

Heilemann called the president a "Twitter troll," who cannot face reality.

"It's the kind of behavior that it's easier if I can attack you from a distance, if I can attack you on Twitter, if I can attack you on TV—but, if I come face to face to you, ahh let's move away," Heilemann said.

Scarborough finished the analysis, extrapolated from an inaccurate subtitle, by throwing in a final personal jab at Trump.

"A lack of grace, or just not man enough. If he's not going to be graceful, then just be man enough to sit there and have a conversation. But, he wasn't man enough to do that. "