UPDATE: Joe Scarborough reportedly “learned of the exchange 'in the last few days,' according to an MSNBC executive.”
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said that “several months ago,” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump asked a foreign policy expert “three times in an hour briefing, ‘Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?’” The scoop has media figures asking how long Scarborough has had this information and why he is just now making it public.
On the August 3 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Scarborough said, “several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump” and “three times in an hour briefing,” Trump asked, “‘Why can't we use nuclear weapons?’”
JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): Several months ago, a foreign policy expert on the international level went to advise Donald Trump, and three times he asked about the use of nuclear weapons. Three times he asked, at one point, “If we have them, why can't we use them?”
MIKE BARNICLE: Wow.
SCARBOROUGH: That's one of the reasons why he has -- he just doesn't have foreign policy experts around him.
BARNICLE: Trump? Trump asked three times whether we can use nuclear weapons?
SCARBOROUGH: Three times in an hour briefing, “Why can't we use nuclear weapons?”
Media figures immediately questioned how long Scarborough knew about this story and if he had known for “several months,” why didn’t he report Trump’s comments when they happened:
I'd like to know when @JoeNBC learned about this, since he said it happened “several months ago.” https://t.co/fEYbrGXA02
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) August 3, 2016
Thanks for telling us this three months ago, Joe https://t.co/2YQCvbmGQo
— Michael C Moynihan (@mcmoynihan) August 3, 2016
If what @JoeNBC is true, then why sit on the story for months?
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) August 3, 2016
For months, Scarborough has oscillated between supporting and condemning Trump, and he along with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski have been criticized for their cozy relationship with the presidential nominee.