MSNBC's "Morning Joe" slammed the Obama administration after emails were recovered suggesting that MIT economist Jonathan Gruber had a larger role in developing the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare than initially acknowledged.

The Obama administration was not "fully forthcoming" on Gruber's role, author Mark Halperin said on "Morning Joe."

"I owe my Republican sources an apology, because they kept telling me he was hugely involved and the White House played it down," Halperin said. "They were right. The Republicans were right … I think they [White House staff] were not fully forthcoming."

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Obama's team distanced itself from Gruber last November after it was revealed that Gruber had used phrases such as the "stupidity of the American voter" and noting the "huge political advantage" politicians had in passing Obamacare with little transparency. Gruber apologized before Congress and called his quotes "glib," the Free Beacon reported.

But emails released to the Wall Street Journal indicate that Gruber was in frequent touch with the White House about the healthcare law and his press interviews about the law.

According to the Journal, Gruber was in touch with the director of the Office of Management Budget, and advisers to President Obama like Joshua Furman and Ezekiel Emanuel. One email showed Gruber was invited to meet with Obama himself.

Hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski asked former Democratic Party chair Howard Dean and former Democratic congressman Harold Ford if the Obama administration had lied about Gruber's involvement, and both men said they were not "fully forthcoming."

"Mika, let me see if one person will talk straight," Scarborough said. "The White House assured us that Mr. Gruber was a bit player. It appears now that was not true. Did the White House lie about Mr. Gruber's involvement?"

"It certainly appears they did," Brzezinski said.