Cheney says Trump should stop tweeting Scarborough conspiracy

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) said Wednesday that President Trump should stop tweeting an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough.

The criticism from the third-ranking GOP leader came just a couple hours after Trump took to Twitter for the second day in a row to raise a conspiracy theory about the death of an aide to then-Rep. Scarborough (R-Fla.), despite pleas from the aide’s widower to stop.

“I do think the president should stop tweeting about Joe Scarborough. I think we’re in the middle of a pandemic. He’s the commander in chief of this nation, and it's causing great pain to the family of the young woman who died. So I would urge him to stop it,” Cheney told a handful of reporters after a news conference outside the Capitol.

Asked if Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, personally knew Scarborough, she replied: “The president should stop tweeting about it.”

During the news conference moments earlier, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a top Trump ally, was pressed about the Trump tweets on Scarborough, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2001.

“I did not serve with Scarborough. ... I don’t know anything about the case itself,” McCarthy told reporters.

Few GOP lawmakers have spoken out against Trump’s attacks on Scarborough. But earlier this week, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) took aim at Trump on Twitter, calling the story a “completely unfounded conspiracy” and urging the president to “just stop. Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us.”

But Trump has not stopped. On Wednesday, in the face of media criticism and pleas from the widower, Trump continued to bash Scarborough, who with his wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski have become some of Trump’s most high-profile and vocal critics.

“Psycho Joe Scarborough is rattled, not only by his bad ratings but all of the things and facts that are coming out on the internet about opening a Cold Case,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “He knows what is happening!”

However, authorities have not opened any cold case. Trump has been fixated on the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, an aide who had worked in Scarborough’s congressional office in Florida. 

Authorities determined that Klausutis, who had an undiagnosed heart condition, fell and hit her head at work in 2001. She was found dead the following morning. Scarborough was in Washington at the time, and the medical examiner ruled her death an accident. 

Morgan Chalfant contributed.