[UPDATED REPORT: 'Morning Joe' Ups Ante: Calls for Cabinet-Led Coup, 'Sociopath' Trump Must Be Removed]
President Trump has "early stages of dementia," according to sources close to the president, Joe Scarborough claimed Thursday morning.
The MSNBC morning anchor, who took angry exception to Trump suggesting Wednesday that the mysterious 2001 death of intern in then-Congressman Scarborough's office deserved further investigation, today accused the president of being mentally unfit to remain office.
Scarborough called on Trump's cabinet to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. (That amendment, adopted in 1967, deals with replacing a president who is no longer able to "discharge the powers and duties of his office.")
"He is completely detached from reality, we had a New York Times and Washington Post piece saying so a couple of days ago, and the question is Mika," Scarborough said, "if this is not what the 25th Amendment was drafted for, I would like the cabinet members serving America, not serving the president" to act accordingly.
The host repeatedly warned that America was on the brink of nuclear war.
"We are headed towards a nuclear showdown," the anchor said. "Most insiders say, Richard [Haas] has said it matches everything we’ve heard from inside the administration, we are closer to war on the Korean peninsula that most Americans know, we heard this months ago, that we are going to have a ground war in Korea, they believe that inside the White House for a very long time."
Scarborough called on the cabinet to remove Trump from office, saying Americans lives are "literally" at stake.
"You represent 320 million people whose lives are literally in your hands and we are facing a showdown with a nuclear power and you have you somebody inside the White House that the New York Daily News says is mentally unfit, that people close to him say is mentally unfit, that people close to him during the campaign told me had early stages of dementia," Scarborough said.
Here's a transcript of the exchange:
SCARBOROUGH: "The problem, Mika, is that we are not fine in this country. I said America will be strong. We will survive this. But right now, at this particular moment -- and we will get to this in a moment with Richard Haas -- we are headed towards a nuclear showdown, most insiders say, Richard has said it matches everything we’ve heard from inside the administration, we are closer to war on the Korean peninsula that most Americans know, we heard this months ago, that we are going to have a ground war in Korea, they believe that inside the White House for a very long time. And yet, he is completely detached from reality. We had a New York Times and Washington Post piece saying so a couple of days ago, and the question is Mika, if this is not what the 25th amendment was drafted for, I would like the cabinet members serving America, not the president, not serving the president —"
BRZEZINSKI: "—America—"
SCARBOROUGH: "You serve America and you know it. You know you don’t serve Donald J. Trump, scam developer, scam you know Trump University proprietor. Reality TV show host, you don’t represent him. You represent 320 million people whose lives are literally in your hands and we are facing a showdown with a nuclear power and you have you somebody inside the White House that the New York Daily News says is mentally unfit, that people close to him say is mentally unfit, that people close to him during the campaign told me had early stages of dementia. Now, listen, you can get mad at me if you want to —"
BRZEZINSKI: "You can say that's not OK to say, but —"
SCARBOROUGH: "When are we supposed to say this? After the first nuclear missile goes?"
RELATED:
— ‘Morning Joe’ on Trump’s Conspiracy That ‘Joe is a Murderer’: We ‘Are Not Intimidated’
— Pelosi Calls Conyers to Resign, But Blames Trump for Rise of Sexual Harassment