“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski rushed to correct a guest who called Donald Trump a “rapist” — just weeks after ABC News settled a lawsuit with the incoming president after its star anchor made the nefarious claim.
Scott Galloway, an entrepreneur and professor at NYU Stern School of Business, was discussing the economic reasons why voters chose Trump over Kamala Harris during Wednesday’s show on the left-leaning network when he defamed the President-elect.
“We are in the midst of a series of small revolutions to correct income inequality. And the reason we put an insurrectionist and a rapist in office is because for the first time in our nation’s history, a 30-year-old man or woman isn’t doing as well as his or his or her parents were at third,” Galloway said.
Moments later, as the interview wound down, Brzezinski jumped in with a legal note in order to clarify that MSNBC did not condone the comment.
“Great conversation,” she said. “I want to make a comment about a word that was used in this interview. Donald Trump was tried civilly and was found libel of sexual abuse, not rape. But the judge in the case likened his actions to rape, but the liability was officially called sexual abuse.”
Brzezinski then quickly cut to a commercial.
Her correction comes after ABC News agreed last month to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over false statements made by “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos, who was forced to apologize as part of the settlement, had repeatedly claimed in a March 10 interview that Trump had been found “liable for rape” while questioning a congresswoman about her support for the Republican.
Stephanopoulos had been repeatedly warned not to use the word “rape” by his producer, but ignored the plea, The Post exclusively reported.
Trump’s pick for Federal Communications Commission chief has issued a stern warning to the national news networks about the perceived bias in their coverage of Trump.
Last month, incoming FCC chair Brendan Carr fired off a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, saying, “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,”
The Post has previously reported that Carr and the Trump administration could also throw a wrench into the mega-merger between CBS News parent company Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
According to people close to Trump’s transition team, CBS could, among other things, be forced to turn over a full transcript of the controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, which those in the Trump orbit believe shows the network played dirty during the 2024 election.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
