“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski had positive words for Fox News’ town hall with Bernie Sanders on Monday and singled out the network’s two moderators, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, for special praise.
“Joe has talked about this. We love Bret Baier and Martha. They’re great. They’re good journalists,” Brzezinski said, also giving a shout-out to network anchor Shepard Smith.
“I understand why some people wouldn’t want to do an interview with Sean Hannity, who is just an adviser to the president,” added fellow co-host Willie Geist. “But we now have evidence from Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum — and as you said Shep Smith and Chris Wallace and Bill Hemmer. You can go on and on and on about people over there who will give you a fair shake.”
Elsewhere on set, there was also criticism for the Democratic National Committee’s decision to shut Fox News out of hosting 2020 primary debates — something that has not happened since 2004.
“Tom Perez, he’s a very good guy and I like him, but he is so far off the mark here banning Fox News,” added show mainstay Mike Barnicle. “You’re running for president of the United States. Isn’t one of the basic ideas to reach as many Americans as possible? This is one way to reach as many Americans as possible.”
“If you’re afraid of Tucker Carlson, how are you going to become president of the United States? Go on Fox News. Reach as many people as you can,” he added.
The discussion was a broad departure for the show which normally spends its days accusing Fox News of being a mouthpiece for President Trump.
“I would ask [Fox News] advertisers to take a look at where you’re putting your money,” Brzezinski said of the network last October in what was more typical fare, attacking the channel’s coverage of a migrant caravan approaching the U.S.-Mexican border. “If you like white nationalism, you can invest in some of these Fox News programs and these Fox News hosts. You can do the that, they’re there for you.”
In 2017, Joe Scarborough and Sean Hannity went through a several week period taking shots at one another on air and over Twitter over the latter’s coverage of the still unsolved murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. In May 2017, Scarborough called Hannity’s focus on the story “gross and repulsive.”