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Morning Joe hosts mock Trump's North Korea meeting: 'He can’t even make a deal with a porn star'

Hosts rib Trump for allegations he tried to silence a porn star over an affair

Emily Shugerman
New York
Friday 09 March 2018 16:12 EST
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'Morning Joe' hosts on Trump-North Korea meeting: 'He can't even make a deal with a porn star'

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Donald Trump’s announcement that he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not impress TV hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who wondered aloud how the US president could negotiate with a foreign leader if he “can’t even make a deal with a porn star”.

The Morning Joe hosts slammed Mr Trump the day after he announced the historic meeting with Mr Kim. The meeting, scheduled for May, would be the first time a sitting US president met with a North Korean leader. It came as Mr Kim promised to halt all nuclear testing and expressed interested in denuclearization.

Still, Ms Brzezinski and Mr Scarborough were not convinced Mr Trump could secure any meaningful agreement from the meeting.

“We’ve been seeing this guy on the national stage now long enough to know that so often it’s just all talk, it’s all bluster,” Mr Scarborough said. “He talks about the art of the deal; the deal never comes through.”

“He can’t even make a deal with a porn star,” Ms Brzezinski added, referring to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Ms Daniels claims she had an affair with the president in 2006, one year after he married his wife, Melania. The actress recently sued the president in an attempt to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she says his lawyers drew up to silence her. Mr Trump denies the affair occurred.

“His lawyer can’t even draft a competent deal to keep a porn star quiet,” Mr Scarborough said on Friday. “So how is he going to keep the North Koreans from getting nuclear weapons?”

Trump announces some of the 'largest sanctions' on North Korea at CPAC 2018

Administration officials have stressed that the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Kim is not a negotiation, but simply a chance for the two leaders to talk. Mr Trump himself has scoffed at the idea of talking with Mr Kim, and proposed more dramatic solutions, like raining “fire and fury” on the country.

“Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid,” he tweeted in October. “Hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators.”

He added: “Sorry, but only one thing will work!”

Mr Trump was more upbeat on Thursday, announcing that his meeting with Mr Kim was being planned and “great progress” was being made.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the place and time for the meeting were to be determined.

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