April 25, 2018

Morning Joe regulars discuss Trump's continuing problems with his cabinet officials and appointees.

"Joe, the bad headlines for members of President Trump's cabinet continue to mount with interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney, now in the spotlight. Did you hear this? According to the New York Times, he says it out loud," WIllie Geist said.

"Mulvaney, who also runs the White House budget office, told banking industry executives at a conference yesterday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda. The Times says he also revealed that as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign, telling the crowd, quote, this is a quote, 'If you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you're a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.'

"In response, Mulvaney's spokesman told the New York Times' Glen Thrush that remarks to bankers were a general call to citizens to advocate in whatever way they choose, and that Mulvaney's top priorities as a congressman was listening to constituents, for free, and that the part on lobbyists was meant to underscore that point.

"Joe, sometimes these things are implied, they're done behind close the doors. But let me read the quote again from Mick Mulvaney: 'If you're a lobbyist who never gave us money, I never talked to you. If you're a lobbyist who gave me money, I might talk to you.'"

Scarborough described the way donors were handled in his congressional office, and then brought Steve Israel into the conversation.

"I totally agree with you, Joe," Israel said.

"Look, this may have been the one true statement that a Trump appointee has ever made. on this, I think there's no fake news. he made the statement."

Israel predicted the clip would be used in this year's mid-term elections.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon