Trump Attacks 'Morning Joe' Host for "Bleeding Badly" From a Facelift

The president claims the MSNBC host wanted to join him at Mar-a-Lago around New Year's Eve.

President Donald Trump claimed in a couple of tweets Thursday morning that Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski had a facelift, escalating a long-running feud between the president and the show's hosts.

The president, who began by saying that he heard the "poorly rated" show "speaks badly" of him, said "low IQ Crazy Mika" and "Psycho Joe" went to Mar-a-Lago for three nights around New Year's Eve and insisted on joining him while Brzezinski was "bleeding badly from a face-lift."

It's not entirely clear what caused the president's tweets on Thursday, but on Tuesday afternoon Scarborough tweeted that "@CNN has more integrity on its worst day than Donald Trump has on his best," referring to the network's Russia story snafu that was immediately capitalized on by the president and many in right-leaning media.

"It’s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job," an MSNBC spokesperson said in a statement.

For the record, this is a picture of @MorningMika at Mar-a-Lago at the time Trump is claiming she was "bleeding badly." pic.twitter.com/NJgioOD3Va — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 29, 2017

Brzezinski, on Thursday morning, tweeted out a photo of a Cheerios box that says "Made For Little Hands," alluding to a long-running gag -- started by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter -- that Trump has small hands.

Brzezinski and fellow co-host Joe Scarborough have long had a love-hate relationship with the president, ebbing and flowing at various points over the course of his candidacy and now presidency. It was reported back in early January that the pair, who are now engaged, attended a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, which some in the media interpreted as an unbecoming demonstration of friendliness toward the president.

Scarborough, at least at one point, was seen as a Trump ally and booster, which reportedly caused some consternation at NBC headquarters.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders discussed Trump's tweets in an appearance on Fox News' America's Newsroom Thursday morning. "Look, I don’t think that the president’s ever been someone who gets attacked and doesn’t push back," she said. "There have been an outrageous number of personal attacks, not just at him but to frankly everyone around him. People on that show have personally attacked me many times. This is a president who fights fire with fire and certainly will not be allowed to be bullied by a liberal media and the liberal elites within the media or Hollywood or anywhere else.”

I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017