Morning Joe host reveals 'takeaway' from his controversial meeting with Trump as fallout continues

Joe Scarborough has revealed a takeaway from his controversial meeting with president-elect Donald Trump.

The MSNBC star, 61, said on Wednesday' episode of Morning Joe that Trump was having issues with his choice for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth.

Shortly after Trump announced Hegseth for the job, it emerged that the Fox News pundit made a payment to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017.

'I will say on background, in our conversation on background, there are a couple of things that surprised us,' Scarborough said. One of them was when his name came up, there was not a flinch, but a noticeable ‘we got problems here.’”

Scarborough also claimed that Trump's transition team was concerned about attorney general pick Matt Gaetz, who has also been accused of sex crimes.

He added: 'I will just tell you that was the takeaway, because obviously Gaetz is a problem.

'But I think there must be more there. I think they were just shocked, maybe, blind sided, because there has been no vetting process for these four. There have been vetting processes for [Secretary of State pick Sen. Marco] Rubio.'

Trump's unconventional Cabinet picks have sparked concern as he prepares to reenter the White House for a second term in January, and it is becoming apparent that some - like Gaetz and Heseth - will face an uphill battle to be confirmed.

It comes as Scarborough and his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski have been slammed for meeting with Trump to 'restart communications' after calling him a fascist.

The MSNBC hosts dismissed the criticism saying it just proves there is a 'massive disconnect' between 'social media and the real world.'

Jon Stewart mercilessly mocked the married co-hosts on The Daily Show on Monday.

'Joe and Mika Brzezinski Scarborough, who famously warned of the growing threat of Trump's fascism, had an interesting announcement to make,' Stewart began.

'We've learned nothing!' he shouted regarding the couple's meeting with Trump.

'Even those putting up resistance to Trump's agenda don't seem to understand who they're dealing with.'

Stewart continued his attack against Scarborough: 'Oh, I bet you really laid down the gauntlet, Joe.

'I bet you really let [Trump] have it, didn't you, Joey?'

The View's Ana Navarro was another liberal media figure who unleashed a blistering on-air tirade in response to the pair's surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

The political strategist tore into the married MSNBC anchors over their trip to see  Trump, calling it 'opportunistic' during her rant. She asked whether the two had 'change[d] their stripes' because of 'who's in power.'

On the MAGA side, Megyn Kelly also went after Scarborough and Brzezinski, telling them to go 'f**k themselves.'

'Go f**k yourselves, you dishonest jokes of faux journalists,' Kelly said on Monday, reminding her audience that the Morning Joe hosts initially supported Trump's bid for president in 2016.

'It is nauseating, it's so stomach-turning,' Kelly added. 'They're so disgusting.' 

Kelly then claimed that Scarborough stopped supporting Trump after 'Scarborough found out he was not gonna be the vice presidential running mate.'

'He had been rejected for that position and they turned, they turned on Trump because access to power is everything to that small, little man,' the former Fox News and NBC News star said.

Former Republican candidate for president Nikki Haley said: 'Let's be clear, Joe and Mika didn't suddenly see the light, they saw their ratings. They realized they needed Trump for their survival.'

Amid the backlash, Morning Joe staffers have insisted the Florida meeting was 'f***ing worth it.' 

Trump, on his part, told Fox News that he took the meeting because in order to 'Make America Great Again, it is very important, if not vital, to have a free, fair and open media or press.'

Trump and the 'Morning Joe' stars have had a contentious relationship since the Republican entered politics - with Scarborough leaving the Republican party as a result.

During the 2024 election, Morning Joe repeatedly denounced Trump as a racist, sexist, fascist, and told viewers he did not deserve to be president. At one point, Scarborough said Trump was acting 'full-on Hitler' and Brzezinski condemned him for echoing the 'dangerous language of infamous fascist leaders.' 

Brzezinski said on Monday they decided to reach out to Trump for 'the opportunity to speak with the President-elect, himself' because their viewers and 'regular citizens' have expressed fear following Trump's election and his recent cabinet selections.

Scarborough continued, saying the three 'talked about a lot of issues, including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets.' 

Trump used to be routine contributor to Morning Joe, and Scarborough was an early cheerleader for the billionaire's maverick bid for the GOP nomination in 2016.

But relations soured as Trump pulled off a surprise victory in the Republican primaries and began to look like a serious challenger to the Democrats' Hillary Clinton.

The four-hour morning show became a bastion of the Democratic establishment after Trump's first term, with President Joe Biden routinely tuning in while doing his morning exercises to see his acolytes promote the party's talking points.

With Trump in the White House and Scarborough engaged to co-host Brzezinski he began cementing his show's identity as an outpost of opposition to the new administration.

The couple even recorded a Christmas album called 'A Very Drumpf Christmas' with children's songs portraying the president as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

It eventually attracted the attention of the president himself, who delivered a series of withering put-downs, labeling Scarborough 'Psycho Joe' and his then-fiancée as 'low IQ Crazy Mika', while mischievously claiming she had been 'bleeding badly from a face-lift' during a visit to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Brzezinski later confirmed she'd been recovering from cosmetic surgery during the trip.

And the feud deepened when the president revived long-debunked claims that Scarborough had been involved in the death of his former congressional staffer who was found dead on his office floor in 2001.

An autopsy found that Lori Bolterstein Klausutis, 28, had hit her head on a desk after collapsing from an undiagnosed heart-valve irregularity but Trump called for a fresh investigation into the case.

The allegations earned Trump his first rebuke from Twitter, which would eventually kick him off the platform altogether in January 2021.