Scarborough rips Conway as an 'out of the loop' liar after Flynn resignation

Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway’s assertion that former national security adviser Michael Flynn enjoyed “the full confidence of the president” just hours before he offered his resignation is proof that President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager is “out of the loop” and acting recklessly, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday morning.

“She goes out and lies and you find out about those lies a couple hours later,” Scarborough said, addressing “Morning Joe” panelist Willie Geist. “Or if she's not lying, Willie, she is – actually what I’ve heard she is – so out of the loop. She's in none of the meetings and she just goes out without talking without having the facts.”


Appearing on MSNBC on Monday afternoon, Conway said Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who once led the Defense Intelligence Agency, “does enjoy the full confidence of the president” despite swirling controversy about a conversation Flynn had with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. In that conversation, Flynn reportedly discussed easing American sanctions imposed against Russia over its interference with last year’s presidential election.

Asked about that reported conversation, Vice President Mike Pence said it had never occurred, a statement he made based on information from Flynn. In his resignation letter on Monday, Flynn admitted he had “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”

Speaking on "Today" Tuesday morning, Conway said her Monday afternoon statement was true at the time, but by the end of the night Flynn decided to resign.

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski took her turn attacking Conway as well, remarking that “it’s not worth the interview” to bring Conway onto cable news shows like the one she hosts with Scarborough. Brzezinski added that for Conway, “interviews are her chance to one up and suck up and, you know, make mistakes.”

But it was Scarborough, a former congressman and longtime friend of the president’s, who attacked Conway at length Tuesday morning. The “Morning Joe” host said it is his understanding that Trump is Conway’s only defender in the White House and that the counselor to the president often acts independently of other administration officials.

That she said Flynn remained in the president’s good graces just hours before his resignation is proof, Scarborough said, that Conway is not on the same page as her White House colleagues.

“Kellyanne Conway is a free agent. And they have complained. Everybody in the White House but Donald Trump has complained for months that she is a free agent. She goes out, she says whatever she wants to say. She doesn’t coordinate her message. And then she comes back in and they have to clean it up,” Scarborough said. “Now, she will lie, as she does every time the truth comes out. She will say she's being victimized. She will then go in and get a picture with the president and then she’ll get the president to tweet something and her staff – his staff – will have to clean this all up over and over again.