The Bogus Joe Scarborough Murder Conspiracy Theory That Donald Trump Always Pushed

In a twist that once baffled many, former President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed a baseless conspiracy theory implicating MSNBC host Joe Scarborough in the death of Lori Klaustis, a former staffer. This theory, lacking any factual basis, had been a recurring theme in Trump’s tweets, causing prominent distress to Klaustis’ family and testing the limits of Twitter’s policies regarding content from world leaders.

The conspiracy theory revolved around the death of Klaustis, who worked for Scarborough when he was a Republican congressman in Florida. In 2001, Klaustis was found dead in Scarborough’s district office. The medical examiner concluded she had fainted due to an undiagnosed heart condition and hit her head, ruling out foul play. Scarborough was not even in the state at the time of her death.

Despite the clear findings, Trump once again revived the bogus theory, suggesting Scarborough was involved in her death. The unfounded claim was echoed in a series of tweets, nudging Timothy Klausutis, Lori’s widower, to write to then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, pleading for the removal of Trump’s tweets. Timothy wrote, “I’m asking you to intervene in this instance because the President of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain.”

However, back then, Twitter acknowledged the pain but wrote, “We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family. We’ve been working to expand existing product features and policies so we can more effectively address things like this going forward, and we hope to have those changes in place shortly.” However, the platform never ended up deleting the post. 

As per Vox, Trump's tweet in question was, “The opening of a Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough was not a Donald Trump original thought, this has been going on for years, long before I joined the chorus. In 2016 when Joe & his wacky future ex-wife, Mika, would endlessly interview me, I would always be thinking........about whether or not Joe could have done such a horrible thing. Maybe or maybe not, but I find Joe to be a total Nut Job, and I knew him well, far better than most. So many unanswered & obvious questions, but I won’t bring them up now! Law enforcement eventually will?”

Moreover, Trump doubled down on his baseless claims, and later told reporters at the White House, “I’m sure that [Klausutis’ family], ultimately, they want to get to the bottom of it, and it’s a very serious situation. It’s a very suspicious thing, and I hope someone gets to the bottom of it,” as reported by CNBC.

Scarborough and his wife, Mika Brzezinski, have been vocal critics of Trump, especially during his presidency. Scarborough remarked, “At last, I saw this reality TV president as a malevolent character, inspiring fascist chants while proving to be more hapless than any of his [44] predecessors. All versions of Trump have been cynical and manipulative, but his latest incarnation has proved to be destructive to his party, his country and the world.”