Scarborough: ‘Shock and Awe’ Over Questioning Clintons In Press

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough said that there is “shock and awe” over asking questions of the Clintons, and that there is an attitude of “oh, my God, let’s bow down before Bill and Hillary because if we ask the same questions of them that we ask of every other politician, then oh, my God, we have crossed a line” on Tuesday.

During an a tough line of questioning in the show’s interview with “Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer, Scarborough stated, “I don’t get this. I’ll be really honest. I’m looking around here, and I don’t get this. I’m certainly — I mean, if Peter’s been reckless, go ahead and say he’s been reckless. But I worked with guys in Congress that went golfing like one or two times in Ireland, and then six months later, put a bill on the floor of the House, and they went to jail, and we’re sitting here going, ‘wait a second, wait, no, maybe he just got paid three times the amount. Maybe Belarus or telecom companies, or maybe this.’ Come on, we’re not naive babes in the woods. And I know you’re playing this game of ‘I’m going to be a tough professional journalist,’ and that’s really awesome. But Mika, Bob McDonnell, let’s look [at] what Bob McDonnell did, what Bob McDonnell did pales in comparison to what’s in this book. And what Bob Menendez did pales in comparison to this book. The Clintons have made $150 million over the past decade because of contacts they made during public service. I will now sit back and let you go ahead and ask those tough questions. I’m just curious, though, why are the Clintons held to a standard that Bob McDonnell’s not held to, that Bob Menendez is not held to, that all of these congressmen that get thrown into jail for going on a — going to a Redskins game or going on a golf trip, compared to $150 million.”

Brzezinski then asked Scarborough, “the golfing trips, your friends in Congress, who called them out on that, and who held them accountable?” Scarborough answered, “what do you mean? The Justice Department did.” She then said, “it wasn’t Peter Schweizer, it was the Justice Department.”

After co-host Mika Brzezinski said that the Justice Department caught corrupt congressmen, not Schweizer, Scarborough replied, “are you saying that news — that newspapers and reporters shouldn’t — shouldn’t go out and report on this? Because I’ll tell you, when Peter Schweizer was talking about Congress insider trading we had him on the set, ‘great job, way to go, you’re great, you’ve called this out.’ ’60 Minutes’ had him on there, ‘great job.’ But it’s the Clintons and suddenly, ‘oh, my God, let’s bow down before Bill and Hillary because if we ask the same questions of them that we ask of every other politician, then oh, my God, we have crossed a line.’ It’s like that — part in ‘Indiana Jones’ where you cross the line and the rock comes after you, and you’ve got to run fast because you dare crossed the Clintons’ line, who made, may I add, $150 million. While dudes get thrown in jail for going on a golf trip in Ireland, and the weather probably even sucked. So, I don’t really understand the shock and awe here.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett