BREAKING NEWS Morning Joe throws embattled Donald Trump a very surprising lifeline as Jeffrey Epstein scandal worsens
The Morning Joe host, who is a notorious Trump critic, said on Thursday that while hardcore MAGA supporters and influencers are outraged by the president's refusal to release the Epstein files, the majority of traditional Republicans don't yet care.
'MAGA influencers, the MAGA base - They're outraged. They're enraged with the president there. There's a split on where they stand on the Epstein files... it's about a 50/50 split,' Scarborough said.
'That said, we've seen no evidence yet of Donald Trump losing support among Republicans. He's sitting at 88 to 90 percent support among Republicans. So until those numbers start moving, I suspect that we're just talking about MAGA influencers, mainly.'
Scarborough's comments come as major MAGA allies - who were promised the 'truth' on Epstein - turned their backs on Trump for failing to release Epstein's 'client list.
The MAGA world was rocked by revelations of Trump's friendship with the pedophile - including a salacious 50th birthday card published by the Wall Street Journal that Trump allegedly sent him in 2003.
Trump denies doing so and has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Journal.
On Wednesday, the prestige paper alleged that Trump was first told by his Attorney General Pam Bondi in May that his name appeared in papers concerning pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Last week, Trump said Bondi hadn't told him his name was in the files.
There's no suggestion of wrongdoing on President Trump's part, but he has angered many of his own supporters by vowing to release the Epstein files while campaigning, only to refuse to do so now he's in power.
Democrats are said to be delighted by the scandal and are using it to try and create ruptures between Trump and the GOP.
While Scarborough appeared to defend Trump on Thursday, earlier this week, he accused the president of trying to distract his supporters amid the Epstein files scandal.
'Pretty much, what everyone in Washington and New York, anybody in politics have concluded, is that Donald Trump is throwing everything at the wall,' Scarborough said on Tuesday.
'You can say he's doing it to distract from Epstein, you can say he's doing it to distract from whatever, but there is no doubt he's throwing everything at the wall.'
Scarborough was specifically discussing the Trump administration's claims that former president Barack Obama is guilty of treason over the Russian interference probe.
It's not the first time Scarborough defends the president.
Last month Scarborough stunningly defended the president's bombing of Iran - saying Hillary Clinton and several previous presidents would have all done the same.
Scarborough, 62, argued that Trump had no other choice.
'I find it hard to believe that Bush 41, Bush 43, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton - you know, go down the list - any president wouldn't have felt compelled to take that strike,' the former Florida Republican explained.
He also said Trump was left with 'no good options' when it came to a solution.
'What would Monday look like if he hadn't have moved?' he asked panelist David Ignatius, who agreed that any president would have made the same call.
Both said Trump had 'inherited' the 'battle plan' from presidents cited. Ignatius said all three considered 'this scenario' when 'diplomacy wasn't working.'
The MSNBC star left the Republican party over Trump's rise, but had a meeting with him in Mar-a-Lago after the 2024 presidential election, enraging his liberal audience.
At the time, David Frum of The Atlantic accused the liberal network host of surrendering to fear of then-president-elect Trump with the headline 'The Sound of Fear on Air.'
Scarborough defended himself in a 20-minute rant on his show last December.
'That wasn't the sound of fear, that was the sound of civility,' Scarborough said.
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