On the set of “Morning Joe,” Monday, co-host Mika Brzezinski took on a big target — Bill Clinton.
The co-host of the popular MSNBC morning program said that if the media drumbeat surrounding sexual harassment continued, a reckoning with the former president was overdue and that covering up for him was part of how we ended up with Donald Trump in the White House.
“[Bill Clinton] continues to flourish today and his wife ran for president even though these women who accused him were attacked in the media, were maligned or settled and that’s a different standard than we’re holding other people who are accused of the same behavior or worse and this is why we have Trump. It’s all connected,” she said.
In addition to his very well-documented behavior with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, Juanita Broaddrick, a registered nurse, accused Clinton of raping her in 1978 when he was serving as Arkansas Attorney General. Bill Clinton is also known to have paid an $850,000 settlement to Paula Jones after she accused him of exposing himself to her in a hotel room in 1991.
“Bill Clinton’s behavior was accepted, it was pushed under the rug,” said Brzezinski, who also used the monologue to applaud U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for telling the New York Times last week that Bill should have resigned the presidency for his transgressions.
“I applaud Kirsten Gillibrand for finally saying what is true. We are in this situation because we have been hypocritical on both sides of the aisle,” said Brzezinski. “And whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, sexually harassing someone who is 22 years old when you’re in power is just wrong and you should go.”
Brzezinski was a consistent critic of both the Clintons and Democratic leadership during the 2016 campaign. The relationship was so bad that then-DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz pressured Brzezinski in emails, warning her to tone it down.
Watch above.