After prompting Donald Trump to once more baselessly accuse Joe Scarborough of murder, Brian Kilmeade said nothing to challenge the conspiracy theory.
Near the end of his interview with Trump this morning, Kilmeade pretended to “just ask” about Trump’s smears about Scarborough. But Kilmeade’s pretense was quickly revealed when he not only failed to follow up on the premise of his own question (why focus on this in the middle of two crises?) but he also failed to note that Trump's accusation is baseless (see below), or, at the least, unproven. Instead, Kilmeade openly pandered for more Trump approval:
KILMEADE: Lastly, I know you've been taking aim at Joe Scarborough and Chris Cuomo. Why put them in your crosshairs when there's so many other huge problems out there?
TRUMP: I just do it. People hit me. I hit back. I fight. I've always felt that about Scarborough -- I had a lot of people in Florida felt he got away with murder -- I think.
So I've always felt that -- that's not an uncommon story -- maybe you'll look at it. So we don't have to waste time on it, but I've always felt that he got away with murder. That was my feeling -- a very strong feeling, and I do feel it.
As far as Chris Cuomo -- no, I just report on his ratings. His ratings are terrible. Unlike your ratings at Fox and Friends where you're doing fantastically well.
Thank you, Mr. President. I think I help you a lot, but you have three great people including you. You used to be a six then you got to be a seven or eight. And now you're approaching the nine territory, but those other two are great.
KILMEADE: Thanks. I'm just -- there's always room for improvement. And that's what a good coach does -- you leave room for improvement.
TRUMP: They're great. That's right. There is. That's true.
KILMEADE: Mr. President, it's a critical time in America's history. Best of luck the rest of the way. And enjoy the rest of the day and all of your meetings.
This is not only fake news about Scarborough, aided and abetted by Kilmeade, it’s a vicious torment to the family of the deceased woman, Lori Klausutis. The New York Times explains the back story:
Mr. Trump and Mr. Scarborough have been engaged in a very public brawl for a long time, but it turned heinous when the president decided to tweet the much-debunked and vile conspiracy theory about Ms. Klausutis’s death. In reality, she had an “undiagnosed heart condition, fell and hit her head on her desk at work,” wrote her husband in the letter to Twitter, but Mr. Trump ignored those facts.
Klausutis’ widower, Timothy J. Klausutis, has pleaded in vain with Twitter to remove Trump’s tweets:
Nearly 19 years ago, my wife, who had an undiagnosed heart condition, fell and hit her head on her desk at work. She was found dead the next morning. Her name is Lori Kaye Klausutis and she was 28 years old when she died. Her passing is the single most painful thing that I have ever had to deal with in my 52 years and continues to haunt her parents and sister.
I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her memory and our marriage. As her husband, I feel that one of my marital obligations is to protect her memory as I would have protected her in life. There has been a constant barrage of falsehoods, half-truths, innuendo and conspiracy theories since the day she died. I realize that may sound like an exaggeration, unfortunately it is the verifiable truth. Because of this, I have struggled to move forward with my life.
…
I’m asking you to intervene in this instance because the President of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain. I would also ask that you consider Lori’s niece and two nephews who will eventually come across this filth in the future. They have never met their Aunt and it pains me to think they would ever have to “learn” about her this way.
But Kilmeade deliberately helped spread the baseless conspiracy and increase the suffering for the Klausutis family.
I’ll have a lot more on this interview coming up. But I want to highlight this part on its own.
You can listen to the entire interview below, from Fox News Radio’s June 3, 2020 Brian Kilmeade Show.
(Kilmeade image via screen grab)
