MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday ripped Donald Trump Jr.'s "stupid" Twitter posts as he counters reports of meeting with a Russian lawyer promising compromising information on Hillary Clinton, suggesting "it runs in the family."
"How stupid of Don Junior? I guess it runs in the family to go on Twitter when he's clearly in legal jeopardy," Scarborough said on "Morning Joe." "This time yesterday morning everybody knew he was clearly in legal jeopardy. He goes up on Twitter again yesterday, only to be undercut by the New York Times last night, because people inside his own White House, inside his own administration are leaking on him."
The New York Times reported Sunday that Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer last June after being told she would have useful information against Clinton. He said he took the meeting with that expectation but that she had no useful information for his father's campaign.
Trump Jr. also said that his evolving explanations for taking the meeting were him simply providing more details. He did not mention that the Russian lawyer might have useful information about Clinton in his first statement to the press, and he tweeted he would happily cooperate with a federal probe into the meeting.
Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
No inconsistency in statements, meeting ended up being primarily about adoptions. In response to further Q's I simply provided more details. https://t.co/FdT1D4hfhz
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know. https://t.co/tL47NOoteM
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
On Monday night, the Times reported that Trump Jr. was informed in an email before the meeting that the material promised by the Russian lawyer was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy.
President Donald Trump routinely resets the news cycle with tweets, including some that have attacked Scarborough and co-host and fiancee Mika Brzezinski. However, as Mark Halperin noted on "Morning Joe," he has remained silent on the latest chapter in the ongoing Russia story.