Scarborough Discusses Dossier
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough ignited a fresh round of controversy this week, calling journalists who question the Trump-Russia collusion narrative “useful idiots for Russia” or potentially even on the Kremlin’s payroll.
This blunt assessment came during a Monday segment of Morning Joe, where Scarborough defended the media’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation despite a growing chorus of skepticism over its coverage.
Scarborough’s remarks were prompted by former President Donald Trump’s Friday statement questioning the whereabouts of Special Counsel John Durham and his long-awaited report on the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. Trump, a frequent critic of the probe’s handling, took aim at Durham’s perceived lack of progress, reigniting debates about the validity of the original collusion claims.
Scarborough dismissed those still scrutinizing the media’s role in promoting the narrative as either duped by Russian propaganda or actively complicit. “I don’t know if they’re useful idiots for Russia, or if they’re on Russia’s payroll — I don’t know, I don’t really care,” he remarked. Yet he conceded that the press had made “badly” executed mistakes but argued that the “totality” of its reporting was largely accurate.
Scarborough: “There’s the Steele Dossier, which we said from the very beginning, was nonsense … They screw up. They are human beings.”
Morning Joe, April 20, 2018: “Almost no question” Trump was with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel https://t.co/0fkqWdLOLW https://t.co/WAYgP6SIEH
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 12, 2024
This defense is at odds with substantial revelations that have cast doubt on key elements of the Trump-Russia investigation. The Steele dossier, once heralded as a critical piece of evidence tying Trump’s campaign to Moscow, has been discredited, with declassified documents indicating that Steele may have been manipulated by Russian intelligence.
Other widely publicized claims, like Michael Cohen’s alleged meeting in Prague with Kremlin officials, were proven false. Despite these missteps, Scarborough has been steadfast in his support of the original narrative, even in the face of mounting criticism.
Independent journalist Matt Taibbi, a vocal critic of the media’s Russiagate coverage, fired back, challenging Scarborough to debate the issue on Morning Joe. Taibbi has long criticized mainstream outlets for what he sees as sensationalism and journalistic failures, arguing that their reporting undermined public trust.
Scarborough’s rhetoric also revives a pattern in his commentary, where he has previously described Trump as “either an agent of Russia or a useful idiot,” suggesting a deep entanglement between the former president and Russian interests. However, much of the evidence Scarborough relied on has since been debunked or failed to hold up under scrutiny.