“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough openly criticized Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin on Monday, targeting the Michigan lawmaker’s recent inability to answer a key question regarding President Donald Trump’s military directives.
The critique followed Slotkin’s appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” where host Martha Raddatz pressed the senator to identify a specific “illegal order” issued by the President. The line of questioning arose from a video circulating that urged intelligence and military officials to disregard unlawful commands. When Slotkin admitted she could not name a specific instance of such an order, Scarborough argued on-air that she had missed a crucial opportunity to challenge the administration’s rhetoric.
“I’m sorry, with all due respect, wrong answer,” Scarborough said, sitting alongside co-host Mika Brzezinski.
RELATED: Michigan Sen. Slotkin Forced To Admit: No ‘Illegal Orders’ Issued Despite Controversial Mutiny Video
While acknowledging that the Commander-in-Chief typically holds “wide latitude” regarding foreign engagement—citing drone strikes under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush as examples—Scarborough contended that the conversation shifts when discussing domestic deployment.
He expressed disbelief that Democrats were not prepared to cite Trump’s comments about using federal troops on American soil.
“Where we know the president has said, ‘I am going to give illegal orders to people in the military,’ is when he was on Air Force One,” Scarborough told his panel. He referenced Trump’s past assertions that he has the authority to send the Army, Marines, or Air Force into U.S. cities to “control crime” when he feels the courts are ineffective.
“That’s just illegal,” Scarborough said. “If the president has already said, ‘I’m going to commit this illegal act,’ then I’m kind of surprised they don’t have the answer when they go on a Sunday show for that.”
READ: Pentagon Threatens To Court-Martial Arizona Senator Mark Kelly Over ‘Unlawful Orders’ Video
The discussion touched on the nuance between foreign operations and domestic policing. Recently, U.S. forces have conducted strikes against vessels linked to the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. Co-host Jonathan Lemire noted that while Slotkin faced a difficult question, the political implications of domestic troop use are distinct from foreign policy.
“I mean, I think Americans are going to care more about the Marines and the armed forces on the streets of U.S. cities than perhaps they will what’s happening in Venezuela now,” Lemire observed. While admitting Slotkin wasn’t entirely wrong regarding the breadth of presidential power, Lemire suggested the administration is performing “gymnastics” to justify the legalities of domestic intervention.
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