A heated exchange between MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and former President Donald Trump has reignited their long-standing feud over the tragic death of a congressional intern in 2001.
According to Daily Mail, Scarborough addressed Trump's persistent implications about his alleged involvement in the death of Lori Klausutis during Tuesday's episode of "Morning Joe."
The controversy originated from the time Lori Klausutis interned in Joe Scarborough's office while he was a Republican congressman. The issue resurfaced after Scarborough criticized Trump’s VP choice, J.D. Vance, accusing him of exploiting a tragedy. Scarborough compared Trump's behavior to Vance's response to 11-year-old Aiden Clark’s death, caused by a van forcing his school bus off the road.
During his presidency in May 2020, Trump launched a series of social media posts suggesting Scarborough's involvement in Klausutis's death. He repeatedly called for the case to be reopened despite medical evidence showing her death resulted from an undiagnosed heart condition that caused her to fall and hit her head.
Trump's persistence led him to declare on Fox News Channel's Brian Kilmeade's radio show that he had always believed Scarborough "got away with murder." These statements continued despite pleas from Klausutis's family to stop spreading unfounded theories.
The situation became so distressing that Timothy Klausutis, Lori's widower, wrote to then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey requesting the removal of Trump's posts.
Scarborough said on his show:
When Donald Trump decided to attack me because he didn't like my COVID coverage and he lied about a woman who worked in my office and claimed that we were involved and that I had her killed. And her husband, the widowed husband, begged him to stop lying because of the excruciating pain that it put her parents through and put him through - the fact that he had not been able to move on for 25 years because of the lies.
The MSNBC host drew attention to how the political exploitation of tragedies affects families. He highlighted the concerning trend of using personal losses for political gain, noting how such actions deviate from traditional political standards.
Scarborough expressed dismay at the deteriorating standards in American politics. He recalled how during his time in Congress, such behavior would have resulted in severe consequences, including potential removal from committee assignments.
The host emphasized that exploiting deaths for political purposes represents a significant shift from previous norms. He noted that leadership would have demanded immediate apologies and retractions in the past.
The medical examiner's investigation found no evidence of foul play in Klausutis's death. The official cause was determined to be complications from an undiagnosed heart condition that led to her fatal fall.
The controversy continues to affect multiple families, from the Klausutis family to others whose tragedies have been politicized. Timothy Klausutis's emotional plea highlighted the ongoing impact of such baseless allegations on families trying to heal from their losses.
Scarborough maintains that Trump's refusal to cease spreading these theories, despite knowing the pain it causes to grieving families, exemplifies a troubling pattern in current political discourse. The situation underscores the broader implications of using personal tragedies for political purposes.
