Donald Trump is in deflection mode. The coronavirus death toll is about to pass 100,000, but instead of using the holiday weekend to mourn those we have lost, or celebrate those who have served in the military, Trump zeroed in on a long-ago debunked conspiracy theory about Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC host who has been critical of how the president has handled the pandemic.
Here’s the background: A woman who worked for then-Congressman Joe Scarborough, Lori Klausutis died almost two decades ago as the result of an “undiagnosed heart condition” in Scarborough’s Florida office. Scarborough was in Washington at the time, but that hasn’t stopped Trump, who has dredged up false accusations that Scarborough had some sinister role in her death, tweeting conspiracy theories. Now Klausutis’ widower is appealing directly to Twitter, asking CEO Jack Dorsey to remove the tweets. Part of the letter reads:
“I’m asking you to intervene in this instance because the president of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain.”
Trump took the tragic death of a young woman, Lori Klausutis, and has tried to exploit it for political gain in the most disgusting way imaginable. This letter from her husband to @jack asking him to delete Trump’s sick tweets is a heart-wrenching must read. pic.twitter.com/Qlk5NY9yx3
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 26, 2020
Joe Scarborough responded to the letter on his show today saying, “What the Klausutis’, the entire family had to endure for 19 years, it is unspeakably cruel. Whether it’s the president or whether it’s people following the president. it is unspeakably cruel.” Watch above.
In an opinion column, New York Times reporter Kara Swisher wrote:
Mr. Klausutis deserves an answer from Mr. Dorsey, who has the unenviable task of sorting out what is perhaps unsortable, which is to say, the ugly heart of Twitter’s most famous customer. While sources close to the company said executives had been trying to figure out what to do over the weekend, the company has at this writing been silent about this latest controversy involving Mr. Trump’s appalling and rule-breaking Twitter habit.
And yet even after the letter from Timothy Klausutis, Trump continued to tweet about it today.
….about whether or not Joe could have done such a horrible thing? Maybe or maybe not, but I find Joe to be a total Nut Job, and I knew him well, far better than most. So many unanswered & obvious questions, but I won’t bring them up now! Law enforcement eventually will?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/amandacarpenter/status/1265266263078682625
There is one Republican is speaking out, but where are the party’s other voices?
Completely unfounded conspiracy. Just stop. Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us. https://t.co/XgDl6LmANb
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) May 24, 2020
And Twitter released a statement Tuesday morning, but it sure doesn’t go far enough.
Twitter statement re: Trump's tweets about Lori Klausutis: "We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements… are causing the family." Changes are in the works to "expand existing product features and policies so we can more effectively address things like this going forward" pic.twitter.com/JxiYmaYYL4
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 26, 2020
*This contains opinion and analysis