White House: Trump is the real victim of false murder accusations he made

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany struggled to defend Donald Trump’s tweets baselessly accusing MSNBC host Joe Scarborough of murder, claiming instead that it is Trump who has been wronged by Scarborough and his wife, fellow MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski.

McEnany’s comments came during a White House news conference on Tuesday after she was asked why Trump won’t stop tweeting about the death of Lori Klausutis, who worked as an aide to Scarborough when he served as a member of Congress from Florida.

An autopsy report at the time found she died from a fall due to an undiagnosed heart issue. Klausutis’ widower pleaded with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a letter to take the tweets down, saying they helped spread “bile and misinformation” and were “disparaging the memory” of his wife.

“I don’t know if he’s seen the letter but I do know that our hearts are with Lori’s family at this time,” McEnany said.

Reporters asked why Trump would make a “nuts” allegation, “accusing somebody of possible murder.”

McEnany pivoted to blame the allegations on Scarborough himself, claiming that Scarborough “joked” about “killing an intern” in 2003 during an appearance on Don Imus’ radio show. She also said Scarborough and Brzezinski have attacked Trump and his family.

“I would note that the president said this morning that this is not an original Trump thought,” McEnany said.

McEnany added, “This morning … Mika accused the president of being responsible for 100,000 deaths in this country. That’s incredibly irresponsible. They’ve dragged his family through the mud, they’ve made false accusations that I won’t go through, that I will not say from this podium, against the president of the United States.”

The nation’s response to the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 100,000 in the United States, is overseen by Trump. He has refused to take any responsibility for the death toll.

This is not the first time Trump has pushed a baseless conspiracy theory, having promoted them against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others he views as enemies.

Nor is it the first time he’s caused pain to the family someone who has died. He attacked Khizr Khan, the father of a soldier who died serving in Iraq, because Khan criticized him, and he continues to attack the late Sen. John McCain, another perceived enemy, a year after McCain’s death.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.