Joe Scarborough went off on a lengthy and fiery diatribe against Fox News host Sean Hannity and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich over their Thursday night attacks on Robert Mueller.

President Donald Trump directed his massive Twitter following to tune into Hannity’s Fox News show on Wednesday night. What followed was an all-out assault on the “Mueller Crime Family,” in which Hannity used James Comey’s accusations that Trump is like a “mob boss” to outline supposed crimes committed by other officials.

Morning Joe responded to Hannity’s show on Thursday morning, and Scarborough went off (at around 2:30 in the above video).

“It’s beneath contempt,” Scarborough started. “Sean Hannity is a desperate, desperate man. Desperately defending a desperate, desperate president.”

Scarborough continued by wielding Hannity’s Fox News colleagues against him, and defending the honor of Mueller:

“Sean Hannity has a show that Shep Smith and the rest of the news people at Fox News consider to be a joke. They call it fake news, they call it entertainment. And that’s fine if people want to be entertained that way at night. People watch the Kardashians, too. But when you have people at Fox News saying that’s not really news, that’s entertainment, it is. It’s trash, though. The fact that he is entertained and the fact that other people are entertained, by trashing a hero in Vietnam. By trashing a man that’s guided America through 9/11, a man that’s dedicated his entire life to protecting Americans at home and abroad, is beneath contempt. And it shows how desperate they all are.”

Hannity defended the Mueller criticism on Twitter:

Fake news please Follow the bouncing ball, I said THIS IS THE COMEY STANDARD. I am sure you are upset at the former FBI directors comments comparing a sitting President to the mob. https://t.co/d0pbDHvREx — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) April 12, 2018

Scarborough then directed his blistering ire towards Newt Gingrich — who was Scarborough’s party speaker when the MSNBC host was a young Republican congressman — claiming the man has shamed and disgraced himself.

“And it’s the same thing with Newt Gingrich. I don’t know exactly what Newt Gingrich is getting out of this. Newt Gingrich skips the Vietnam War. Robert Mueller goes there and serves admirably. And Newt Gingrich is comparing a war hero and a man who is dedicated his entire life to protecting the U.S. Constitution, to Stalin?”

Scarborough batted back Gingrich’s complaints that Paul Manafort’s home was raided by the FBI in the dead of night, arguing that the move followed the law.

And then, he again went off:

“For Newt Gingrich to shame himself, for Newt Gingrich to disgrace himself, for Newt Gingrich to humiliate himself, for Newt Gingrich to lay waste to his legacy, by comparing a Vietnam War hero, who is dedicated his entire life to protecting the U.S. Constitution of Americans. To compare Bob Mueller to Joseph Stalin, the most evil man of the 20th century? Shows you how contemptible Newt Gingrich is as a man. And shows you how desperate he and everything else involved in this wretched exercise are, that now they understand that 70% of Americans want the Mueller investigation to be completed.”

“And sadly, it is the sign of just how low people will go to denigrate themselves and forever sully their historical reputation by defending the indefensible,” Scarborough concluded. “Donald Trump, Mika, once again proves, that no one around him leaves without a sullied and tarnished reputation.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter

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