The use of the world "betrayed" in a White House announcement about President Donald Trump's decision to fire acting Attorney General Sally Yates amounted to the language an "autocrat" would use, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said Tuesday.
"Using the word betrayed for somebody is frightening," Scarborough said on his "Morning Joe" program. "That's what an autocrat would use, whoever put that word in there."
Monday night, Trump dumped Yates, a Democratic appointee who had been filling the attorney general's seat while confirmation hearings for nominee Jeff Sessions, continue.
She had directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend Trump's refugee and immigration ban, saying she was not convinced it was lawful or that it meets the agency's "obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right."
Trump's statement about the firing said Yates "betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States."
The release also said that Yates is an "Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration," before naming longtime federal prosecutor Dana Boente as her replacement.
Scarborough commented that even though Yates disagreed with him, to use the term "betrayed" was "frightening, chilling language."
"Most legal experts would say the president did have a right to do this, but saying somebody betrayed the Justice Department because they don't agree with you, take that to Venezuela, okay," said Scarborough.
"We don't really want to use that sort of language here. It's time for you guys to grow up. It really is time to grow up."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., commented that the firing was reminiscent of former President Richard Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre," so named for his decision to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal.
"Of course we had a Monday night massacre," said Schumer, calling Yates' decision a "profile in courage."
"You can't sit down, Twitter something out, and think, 'okay, let's enact it,'" Schumer said, criticizing Trump.
Scarborough said he does not agree with the Democrats' reference to Nixon.
"This is probably a constitutional order that somebody decided not to follow up," said Scarborough. "Just like Democrats and some people in the press were calling it a Muslim ban. It's not a Muslim ban, it's a travel ban.
"I'm talking about how courts will see this. Don't attack me, this is how federal courts will see this as a matter of law . . . I want to circle this word [betrayed] because it's frightening."
The term, he continued, is "deeply, deeply offensive first of all," said Scarborough. "Secondly, it's frightening that the Trump administration actually views dissent that way."
Political commentator Mike Barnicle, also on the show's panel, further criticized Trump for calling Yates "weak on immigration," and termed the president's stream of executive orders over the past week as a "series of virtual stun grenades."
"We're going to have another one this evening in order to distract people, the announcement of the Supreme Court justice," said Barnicle.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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