News

MSNBC and Morning Joe are getting a shake-up just days after host Joe Scarborough went on a 20-minute rant at critics who claimed he was trying to appease the incoming Trump administration. As reported by Variety, NBC News’ Ali Vitali will leave her correspondent role in Washington to anchor the 5 am Way Too Early show, which serves as the lead-in to Morning Joe. Meanwhile, Jonathan Lemire, who currently anchors Way Too Early, will move to Morning Joe‘s 9 am hour as a permanent co-host alongside Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Vitali, who has worked for NBC News for a decade covering politics, campaigns, and Capitol Hill, will start her Way Too Early role on January 6, per Variety. In a statement, Vitali told the outlet she looks forward to “anchoring a show that’s been helmed by some of the smartest reporters in Washington,” adding, “I’ll continue working my sources and...

1923 has chosen a new cast member from The Chosen: Andy Dispensa will play a recurring role in Season 2 of the Paramount+ Western, our sister site Variety reports.

Dispensa — who appeared as Dion on The CW’s Biblical drama The Chosen — will play Luca, “a young man working in the engine room of a merchant ship,” per the official description. He joins a cast that already features Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer and more.

More from TVLineAhead of Xl Yellowstone Finale, Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser Close Deals for Spinoff (Report)Shohreh Aghdashloo Joins Wheel of Time...

Ali Vitali will become the new host of MSNBC’s Way Too Early starting on Jan. 6.

Vitali will succeed Jonathan Lemire, who is moving to an expanded role as host of the 9 a.m. hour of Morning Joe along with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. Lemire has been the host of Way Too Early since October, 2021.

Vitali, who joined NBC News in 2012, has been Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News and is based in Washington. During her tenure she reported on the January 6th Committee and Kevin McCarthy’s protracted speakership election and eventual ouster. She also reported on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during the 2020 campaign, served as an NBC News “Road Warrior” than cycle, and previously covered the Trump administration as a White House reporter for NBC News Digital. Variety first reported on her new assignment.

Way Too Early, which airs before Morning Joe, was launched...

In its latest post-election move, MSNBC has found a new host for its Morning Joe lead-in Way Too Early.

Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali will take over as host of Way Too Early beginning on Jan. 6 at 5 a.m. Et, while current host Jonathan Lemire will be getting an expanded role in the 9 a.m. hour of Morning Joe, a flagship show anchored by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

Vitali, who joined NBC News in 2012, covered the Trump administration as White House reporter for the news organization’s digital side before covering the midterms and then the campaigns of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bloomberg during the 2020 Democratic primary.

During the Biden administration, Vitali was on-site as Capitol Hill reporter during the dramatic ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. Vitali is also author of the 2022 book, Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put A Woman In the White House…...

Ali Vitali is moving from the Capitol Hill beat to the Dawn Patrol.

Vitali, who has spent a decade at NBC News covering politics, campaigns and Capitol Hill, will leave her correspondent role in Washington for a new job anchoring “Way Too Early,” the 5 a.m. program that serves as sunrise lead-in to the cable-news outlet’s “Morning Joe.” Jonathan Lemire, the current anchor of the program, will lend analysis and commentary to “Joe’s” 9 a.m. hour as a co-host. Vitali’s new job starts January 6.

In a statement, Vitali said she looked forward to “anchoring a show that’s been helmed by some of the smartest reporters in Washington,” adding that “I’ll continue working my sources and bringing viewers into the halls of power with fresh reporting and news-making interviews from Capitol Hill and across Washington.”

Vitali has worked her way up through the NBC News ranks,...

Viewers tuning into Morning Joe on Friday (December 6) to see the fallout of Joe Scarborough‘s scathing rant from Thursday’s (December 5) show were surprised to see the host missing, along with his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski. As the hosts’ absence wasn’t explained at the top of the show by Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, some viewers wondered if Scarborough and Brzezinski had quit or been fired following Thursday’s heated rant. However, it turned out the absence was pre-planned. The reason Scarborough and Brzezinski weren’t in the studio on Friday’s show was because they were headed to Arkansas to interview former President Bill Clinton. However, this didn’t stop viewers from speculating, with one X user writing, “After yesterday’s meltdown by Joe, I don’t see them returning. Give the show to Joy Reid. Morning Joy.” “It would not be surprising if management of...

The panel of Morning Joe took to the airwaves on Wednesday morning (November 6) to digest the news of Donald Trump winning a second presidential term in the 2024 election. Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, and Jonathan Lemire all appeared alarmed by the results, with Scarborough calling it “the biggest red wave I’ve seen since Ronald Reagan’s 49-state victory in 1984.” The long-time news anchor added that he found the result “stunning,” noting that Trump won “in dominating fashion” and that the Democratic party has been “wiped out.” “America, first of all, is far more to the Right than any time in our lifetimes,” Scarborough said. “Even going back to the Reagan years. And Donald Trump won in dominating fashion. But he did that along with other Republican candidates in the Senate races and the House races. They’re likely to dominate all branches of government for the next several years.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi danced around questions of whether she continues to support President Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic nominee during a Wednesday interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Pelosi was asked if Biden continues to have her support as the head of the Democratic ticket, but she didn’t really say.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” the former House Speaker responded. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short.”

“He’s beloved. He is respected,...

Update: TheGrio will simulcast CNN’s presidential debate on Thursday while providing pre- and post- event coverage.

TheGrio will start live coverage at 8:30 p.m. Et with a preview show hosted by April Ryan, Washington, D.C. bureau chief and senior White House correspondent, and senior correspondent Natasha Alford. The pre show will focus on issues affecting the Black community and provide background on the candidates’ positions.

The coverage will air on TheGrio television network, streaming Fast channel and digital platform Local Now.

After the debate at 10:30 p.m. Et, Ryan and Alford will get reactions, including from those in politics and advocacy.

Columnists for theGrio, Touré and Michael Harriot, will provide additional commentary.

Byron Allen, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, said that the coverage “will provide comprehensive analysis to ensure that viewers gain a deeper understanding of the political landscape and the stakes involved for America.

Technical issues sent MSNBC on a Tuesday-morning scramble.

The NBCUniversal-backed cable news outlet was forced to run more than ten minutes of promos and ads and a snippet of a repeat from Lawrence O’Donnell’s primetime show just after 6 a.m. as engineers and staffers grappled with an as-yet-unknown glitch that kept “Morning Joe” from coming on the air at its usual time. Finally, “Morning Joe” co-anchor Mika Brzezinski surfaced on air at about 6:11 a.m. to kick off the program and apologize for the delay.

“Thanks for bearing with us, everybody,” Brzezinski. Viewers had initially seen a shot of the U.S. Capitol at the top of the hour along with some of the strains of The Who’s seminal rock song “Baba O’Riley.”

MSNBC declined to comment. Jonathan Lemire, the anchor of the 5 a.m. program, “Way Too Early,” cited “technical difficulties” via a post on the social-media platform X.

Rep. Gregory Meeks expressed fear Tuesday that in addressing the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, “people have forgotten or are not talking any longer” about the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.

“We’ve got to go after Hamas,” the Democrat from New York told “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Jonathan Lemire. He noted that as concerns over Israel’s military response in Gaza this last month grow, Israelis understand “the difference between the Palestinians and Hamas, but people are not talking about Hamas enough and the tragedies that they have done and continue to do.”

Meeks’ assessment came after his return to Washington, D.C. from Israel, where as a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he helped lead a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel where lawmakers met with Israel’s leaders and got a private screening of graphic footage from Hamas’ attack.

Meeks said that the trip was “very,...

Anti-Defamation League director Jonathan Greenblatt took a moment out of his interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to directly call out the cable news network for its coverage of the recent Hamas attacks in Israel, which killed more than 700 people and sparked fighting that has left more than 1,200 dead across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

“While I am sad and trying to cope, I’ll be honest: I am angry. I am angry with the world that allowed the dehumanization of Israelis and sanitized the terrorism of Hamas,” Greenblatt said (via Mediaite). “I must say I love this show, and I love this network, but I’ve got to ask, who’s writing the scripts? Hamas?”

Greenblatt then directly addressed “Morning Joe” host Jonathan Lemire, telling him that the Hamas members “who did this, they are not fighters, they are not militants. And I’m looking right at the camera: They are terrorists.

Amid the flurry of breaking news coverage of the attacks on Israel, Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, appeared on MSNBC to critique the way the network, as well as some others in media, have depicted the conflict.

Appearing on Morning Joe on Monday, Greenblatt — a frequent guest on cable news who heads the organization fighting against antisemitism across the world — spoke out against the way the show was describing the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the attacks as “an escalation” of a geopolitical conflict.

“While I am sad and cope trying to cope, I’ll be honest, I am angry. I am angry with the world that allowed the dehumanization of Israelis and sanitized the terrorism of Hamas. I must say, I love this show. And I love this network. But I’ve got to ask who is writing the scripts? Hamas? The people who did this?...

Former vice president and current presidential hopeful Mike Pence attempted to make a sex joke during Wednesday night’s second GOP debate and, at least with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” crew, it fell more than a little flat. On Thursday morning, the entire panel fully cringed at the moment.

Pence’s crack came in response to Chris Christie on Wednesday, who argued that because President Biden is “sleeping with a member of the teachers union, there is no chance that you could take the stranglehold away from the teachers union every day.”

“Full disclosure Chris, you mentioned the President’s situation,” Pence replied. “My wife isn’t a member of the teachers union, but I got to admit, I’ve been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years. For full disclosure!”

“Mm! Mm, mm, mm, mm” Willie Geist said after the clip, as Joe Scarborough simply repeated “no” over and over,...

Ted Cruz was roasted to oblivion on social media on Thursday, after a “bizarre and cringe” Newsmax interview in which he suddenly started chugging a beer. But the mockery continued on Friday morning, as the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” couldn’t stop laughing at his “bad acting.”

In this particular segment, the Texas senator railed against a hypothetical new federal alcohol guideline that would recommend people only have two drinks per week. Standing with a group of men in cowboy and trucker hats, Cruz pulled a beer from off-screen, told the Newsmax host that Biden can “kiss my ass” – and then drank in unison with the men behind him.

“It’s just, the acting is so bad,” host Willie Geist said through laughter on Friday morning. “That’s where the director calls cut, and steps in and says, ‘Ok, that was a great first take. What we’re...

Despite Trump claiming to have “irrefutable” proof of his innocence in the case against him from Georgia, the four-time indicted former president canceled the news conference in which he was supposed to present it. And that was simply hilarious to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” crew, who cracked up about it on-air on Friday.

On Tuesday, Trump posted to Truth Social saying that “a large, complex, detailed but irrefutable Report on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference” set for Monday, August 23.

But, on Thursday night, Trump canceled that conference, saying that his lawyers would prefer to put the information into formal legal filings, and so the press conference was “no longer necessary!”

“Oh my god,” was all Scarborough managed to say through his laughter at reading the post on Friday’s episode of “Morning Joe.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has reportedly been voted out of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, but apparently, she’s been dodging calls from the caucus chairman to set a meeting to officially get her pink slip. To the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” that felt like a move a certain “Seinfeld” character would try to pull.

The vote to dismiss Greene came at the end of June, reportedly after a very public fight with fellow congresswoman Lauren Boebert on the House floor. According to NBC News, a caucus board member says efforts have been made to get a meeting with Greene, but they suspect it’s “a little bit like someone refusing service from a legal standpoint … if I’m not served, then maybe it doesn’t take effect.”

“The whole play of ‘You can’t fire me if I won’t take a meeting with you’ — that feels a very like George Costanza,...

Following CNN’s airing of audio of Donald Trump confessing to having classified documents on Monday night, the man himself put the tape on blast on his social media. But “Morning Joe” panelist Jonathan Lemire noticed one key thing missing from Trump’s words: a denial that the tape is real.

In the audio obtained by CNN, and later by The New York Times, the twice-indicted former president can be heard talking to unnamed people about papers, and is heard rustling them. Those papers reportedly contained confidential plans regarding Iran, and Trump clearly indicates that he doesn’t have the ability to declassify them anymore.

Shortly after the audio was released, Trump angrily posted on Truth Social, writing that prosecutor Jack Smith “illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe.” But, on Tuesday morning’s episode of “Morning Joe,...

In addition to promising pardons to those involved with the January 6 attacks on the Capitol, Donald Trump has now promised to donate to the legal fund of the defendants still awaiting their fate. But the hosts and panelists of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” are a bit skeptical on that promise, considering it would mean the twice-indicted former president would have to “give away any of his own money.”

In discussing Trump’s latest pledge on Monday morning, host Mika Brzezinski called it “pretty twisted,” but Jonathan Lemire was largely unsurprised.

“The bottom just keeps getting lower. Why not?” Lemire snarked. “I mean, he’s called January 6 a beautiful day, he has promised to pardon most of the January 6 rioters, he has now suggested he’ll make a contribution to the legal defense fund and, of course, let’s not forget, he has appeared with a January 6 choir convent.”

As the discussion continued,...

The grand jury investigating former president Trump’s handling of classified documents is set to meet again this week after a short hiatus and, for the hosts of “Morning Joe,” that fact is just one of the many “small signs” that are “adding up” to indicate obstruction charges are coming.

During Monday morning’s conversation, host Joe Scarborough scoffed at the fact that both Trump and many on his team are still calling the investigation a “witch hunt,” with Scarborough adding that, based on who he and panelist Jonathan Lemire have talked to themselves, the feeling in Trump’s camp is actually the exact opposite.

“They — let me say the words, let me say the words. They feel, are you ready? The walls — everybody, everybody say it with me — closing in on this one,” Scarborough said. “So yes, people can mock me for saying that. Just like they mocked people...

Though most people think twice-impeached-once-indicted former president Donald Trump will never return to Twitter, despite being reinstated back in November, “Morning Joe” panelist Jonathan Lemire isn’t one. In fact, he thinks Trump will return just one minute before Ron DeSantis uses the platform to officially announce his presidential run.

The Florida governor is expected to make his official presidential campaign announcement via a Twitter Spaces interview alongside former CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday night, at 6 p.m. Et. So, in discussing the plan on Wednesday morning’s episode of “Morning Joe,” Lemire guessed that Trump would definitely do everything he can to divert attention from DeSantis.

“I think that tonight at 5:59 p.m. is probably Donald Trump’s first tweet back, trying to steal some of that thunder,” Lemire said.

Also Read:

‘Morning Joe’ Host Mika Brzezinski Backs Scarborough’s Bob Iger Theory: DeSantis Made ‘Such a Rookie...

“It’s kind of amazing. And it’s something that I know myself and the crew talk about a lot as well, just how the show has evolved for us and for Seth over the time period,” says “Late Night with Seth Meyers” director Alex Vietmeier about how the variety talk series has progressed in the decade it’s been on the air. “The conversations are just natural and fluid with the guests, which from a director’s standpoint makes my job very easy because I follow Seth, I go where he goes, and when he’s comfortable and loving every minute of it, it just makes it very easy to sit back and make a show for the people at home to watch and feel that same vibe.” We talked with Vietmeier as part of our “Meet the Experts” TV directors panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above. Click...

Before comedian — and The Daily Show correspondent — Roy Wood Jr. took the stage to host the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a bizarre orgy of politicians, media personalities, and dressed-to-the-nines celebs summoned by media companies as their guests and selfie partners (this year included the likes of Julia Fox, Lisa Vanderpump, and the men from the reality series Farmer Wants a Wife) that would be wholly grotesque were it not for the scholarships doled out to aspiring journalists and the presence of invitees like Brittney Griner, the formerly detained WNBA star,...

Gayle King and Charles Barkley will help break traditional barriers around news programming later this year when they launch “King Charles,” a new weekly primetime program for CNN.

The duo confirmed the move, which has been anticipated for weeks, with an announcement Saturday afternoon on TNT, a cable network that is, like CNN, owned by Warner Bros, Discovery. “King Charles” will be a one-hour, live discussion program and is set to air Wednesdays. CBS News, which counts King as one of the most prominent members of its roster of correspondents, signed off on the deal weeks ago, according to a person familiar with matter. Barkley, who recently renewed his longstanding deal with Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports division, had an easier transition.

King vowed to host a show that offers “a good conversation without tearing other people down.” Barkley said the program would not try to emulate “clickbait” that journalism...

Twice-impeached former president Donald Trump has a new nickname for Florida governor Ron DeSantis: “Meatball Ron.” And on Monday, the hosts of “Morning Joe” couldn’t help but shake their heads at how “not very self-aware” Trump’s choice is this time.

The latest nickname for DeSantis was revealed on Sunday, in a new report from The New York Times. According to the report, which host Mika Brzezinski quoted on-air, Trump “has insulted Mr. DeSantis in casual conversations, describing him as ‘Meatball Ron,’ an apparent dig at his appearance.” But, as Brzezinski got to the words “Meatball Ron,” Joe Scarborough interjected.

“Again, no mirrors at Mar-a-Lago,” he deadpanned.

Also Read:

‘Morning Joe’ Mocks Republicans ‘Hyperventilating’ Over the China Spy Balloon: ‘We Surveil China All the Time’ (Video)

Brzezinski also pointed out that the Nyt reporting indicated that Trump has also used “Shutdown Ron” as a casual nickname as well — which Scarborough,...

The “Morning Joe” panel reacted to both former vice president Mike Pence and President Joe Biden’s classified documents scandals Wednesday.

According to two letters Pence’s counsel sent to the National Archives, a “small number” of classified documents were discovered last week at Pence’s Indiana home. On Jan. 16, about a dozen documents were found at Pence’s home, and two days later, his team notified the National Archives, who then notified the Justice Department. FBI agents retrieved the documents from Pence’s home, and his team turned over additional boxes to the National Archives, as well.

Also Read:

Fallon Says ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Is a ‘Film About All the Places They Found’ Classified Documents (Video)

“He did all the right things,” Joe Scarborough said, hinting that former president Donald Trump is the only one who is mishandling his classified documents scandal, since he hid the classified documents,...

Though he has not announced a presidential run, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is significantly outpolling former President Donald Trump for the 2024 run for the White House, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll. Despite the shocking news, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough is far from surprised.

In July, the poll had Trump at 60, but the number dipped to 56 in October, and is now at just 47 in November. While 31 of Republicans want Trump to win, 61 prefer another nominee who would merely continue to carry out Trump’s policies. The top choice is none other than DeSantis. Trump trails behind the Florida governor by double digits, 56 to 33. DeSantis also outperforms Trump against Joe Biden in hypothetical match-ups, while Trump trails behind Biden.

“This is the calculations that Republicans are making,” Scarborough reasoned. “Not that they’re shocked and stunnned that he’s an immoral guy who has committed a lot of crimes,...

Yamiche Alcindor, whose journalistic profile has expanded during a recent tenure with PBS, is joining NBC News’ Washington team.

Alcindor, who is expected to start with NBC in March, will cover the Biden administration as well as the impact of federal policies on communities across the country and issues at the intersection of race, culture and politics, according to a memo from Ken Strickland, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief. She is expected to continue to work as the moderator of PBS” ‘Washington Week,” but will give up her duties at the public broadcaster’s flagship news program, “PBS NewsHour,” where she has been the program’s White House correspondent.

Alcindor is no stranger to NBC News viewers. She has been making appearances on MSNBC since 2013, and was named a political contributor to NBC News and MSNBC in 2016.

She is the latest in a string of journalists to be able to...

Jonathan Lemire, who has been covering the White House for the Associated Press, will be the new host of MSNBC’s Way Too Early.

Lemire also will be joining Politico as its White House bureau chief, starting in November.

Lemire, who has been an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, succeeds Kasie Hunt at Way Too Early and later joined CNN.

Lemire covered Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s administrations for the AP, and also is writing a book, The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism and the State of American Politics After 2020, which is scheduled for release in the fall of 2020.

Way Too Early precedes Morning Joe at 5 Am Et.

“So I am going over the fine print here and it is 5 Am? Is that what I signed up for?” Lemire joked to Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski as they made the announcement.

Lemire will start...

Jonathan Lemire, a veteran Washington reporter whose on-air profile grew during coverage of the Trump administration, will take the anchor reins at MSNBC’s “Way Too Early,” the network announced Monday.

The move has been long expected. Lemire has been helming the early-morning hour for weeks, filling in after the departure of its previous anchor, Kasie Hunt. Lemire, who had been working at the Associated Press, will join Politico as its White House bureau chief as part of the move.

Speaking on MSNBC Monday morning, Lemire said the program would take on “a real reporter’s sensibility,” and “have some fun with the news” while examining it with “lawmakers and important officials throughout Washington.”

Before joining the AP in 2013, Lemire spent more than a decade at the New York Daily News. He grew up in Massachusetts. He is also at work on a book, “The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism,...

MSNBC has found the new host for its early morning program Way Too Early.

Jonathan Lemire, who was most recently the White House bureau chief for the Associated Press, will take over the 5 a.m. slot that was vacated by Kasie Hunt over the summer. Lemire, who was already an MSNBC contributor, officially starts on Tuesday, after filling in on the program over the past few months. He is also leaving the AP to join Politico to be its White House bureau chief.

“I’m going over the fine print here and it’s… 5 a.m.? Is that what it ...

MSNBC has found the new host for its early morning program Way Too Early.

Jonathan Lemire, who was most recently the White House bureau chief for the Associated Press, will take over the 5 a.m. slot that was vacated by Kasie Hunt over the summer. Lemire, who was already an MSNBC contributor, officially starts on Tuesday, after filling in on the program over the past few months. He is also leaving the AP to join Politico to be its White House bureau chief.

“I’m going over the fine print here and it’s… 5 a.m.? Is that what it ...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was slammed by “Morning Joe” commentators Monday after making a “joke” at a weekend fundraiser that it would be “hard not to hit” Nancy Pelosi with the Speaker of the House’s gavel if Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections.

“A spokesman for McCarthy says was was, quote, obviously joking, but House Democrats are calling on him to apologize,” “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski said during Monday’s show, before saying the McCarthy’s comments “sounded so Trumpy.”

Journalist Alexi McCammond agreed, adding that, according to the Washington Post, 700 Republican candidates have declared their intention to run for some kind of office, and “over 200 of them, Mika, believe in this idea and conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from Donald Trump. So that just gives you a glimpse of how the party will continue...

The White House press corps’ plane was held up Tuesday night because of a swarm of cicadas and by Wednesday morning, journalists including “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski expressed major disgust.

“I can’t even, Willie. I can’t even!” she exclaimed on MSNBC’s morning show as co-host Willie Geist agreed.

Brzezinski recapped what went down Tuesday night: A chartered plane of journalists was scheduled to leave Washington, D.C. ahead of Joe Biden’s first trip abroad as president Tuesday night around 9 pm local time, but a swarm of cicadas — the large, noisy bugs which emerge from the ground once every 17 years to totally take over the area — got into the engine. The plane was delayed. Other pilots were called in. Brzezinski added that at some point, the White House stepped in to get the journalists hotel rooms and pizzas. The flight departed Wednesday.

The story was recounted by various affected outlets,...

With the gravestones of fallen WWII heroes visible over his shoulder and gathered veterans waiting for today’s D-Day commemoration ceremony in Normandy to begin, President Donald Trump sat for a live Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, 15 minutes after the ceremony was supposed to begin.

“French television cameras spotted President Trump sitting down with Fox’s Laura Ingraham – fourteen minutes *after* the ceremony in Normandy was set to begin,” tweeted MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson. “Thousands of people waited as an announcement overhead came on, declaring the program would be delayed until 11:15a.”

See that tweet, and others, below.

Before delivering his speech at the ceremony, Trump lashed out on Fox News at fellow Americans Robert Mueller and Nancy Pelosi, saying the former “made a fool out of himself” and that House Speaker Pelosi “is a disaster.” Trump told Ingraham, “I call her Nervous Nancy.”

The tone of Trump...

BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith offered a subtle jab at “Morning Joe” on Friday, telling the show’s hosts and guests that nobody would watch them if we lived in “normal” times.

“In a normal country, nobody watches this show,” he said. “Sorry folks.”

Smith was on set to plug his latest piece, where he attacked “insider political journalism” that he said he was partially responsible for creating during his time at Politico. His remarks about “Morning Joe” came specifically when Associated Press White House reporter Jonathan Lemire drew attention to a conversation Smith said he had with a Brazilian editor about politics.

Also Read: 'Morning Joe' Mocks Trump Legal Team: 'Everybody Knows That Rudy Giuliani is Lying'

“A Brazilian editor once told me that you could tell his country was in political crisis because everyone was talking about politics all the time. In a normal country, nobody cares about politics,...

Morning TV news outlets were not kind to President Donald Trump’s lapdog-ish performance at previous day’s Helsinki press conference with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.

AP’s Jonathan Lemire and Reuters’ Jeff Mason, the reporters who had asked Trump if he believed his own intel officers or Putin about Russian election meddling, and asked Putin if he had kompromat on Trump, raced around the morning landscape taking questions from dumbfounded on-air talent. Ditto former CIA director Brennan who had described Trump’s performance as treasonous.

Even Trump’s fave morning show, Fox News’ Fox & Friends criticized him this morning, though in the gentlest possible way [Video below].

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stopped by MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss Trump as Putin’s “useful idiot,” warning Republicans of the peril of normalizing Trump’s Helsinki presser behavior. Borrowing a Mussolini gag, she described Trump’s Russia strategy to date:...