Trump Responds to NBC Firing Matt Lauer over Sexual Misconduct Allegation

Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" at Rockefeller Plaza on Nov. 20, 2012 in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Matt Lauer, a 20-year veteran on the “Today” show, was fired following an internal review by NBC of allegations of sexual misconduct.

According to NBC News, the “inappropriate sexual behavior” took place during the 2015 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The behavior also continued after the games.

President Donald Trump responded on Twitter to the firing of Lauer, saying “Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for ‘inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.’”

“But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!”

Trump has frequently raised concerns about fake news reporting on him. Research published by Pew Research Center on Oct. 2 showed that reporting on Trump has been the most negative compared to other presidents over the past 25 years.

NBC found itself in hot water in early October after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called out the media organization for false reporting on him.

“While I’m new to Washington, I’ve learned that there’s some that try to sow dissension to advance their own agenda by tearing others apart in an effort to undermine Trump’s own agenda,” Tillerson said at the time.

In a separate tweet, Trump also questioned two other people at NBC.

“So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!”

Phil Griffin is MSNBC’s president and is responsible for the channel’s programming, which includes Morning Joe and The Rachel Maddow Show. Both shows are frequently critical of Trump.

'Morning Joe' hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Jan. 7, 2012. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

The unsolved mystery, involving Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough, that Trump likely referred to is the death of a congressional aide who worked in a district office of Scarborough.

Twenty-eight year old Lori Klausutis was found dead in Scarborough’s district office in Okaloosa County, Florida, on July 19, 2001. She had been working for Scarborough, then a Republican Representative for Florida, since May 1999.

An Associated Press article published by the Naples Daily news on July 21, 2001, said that: “Preliminary findings from the medical examiner’s office showed no foul play or any outward indication of suicide, said Police Chief Steve Hogue.”

An article published in The St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 28, said the medical examiner had determined Klausutis lost consciousness as a result of an abnormal heart rhythm, after which she fell and hit her head on a desk, causing her death.

Scarborough has denied having any involvement with her death.

During a testy exchange between Markos Moulitsas, founder and publisher of Daily Kos, who was a regular guest on MSNBC, and Scarborough on Twitter in 2010, Moulitsas brought up the issue of Klausutis’ death.

DailyKos website Founder and Publisher Markos Moulitsas (R) during a taping of 'Meet the Press' at the NBC studios on Aug. 12, 2007. (Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press)

“Like story of a certain dead intern. RT @JoeNBC: Luckily for the White House, the media has been negligent on this story since Day 1,” Moulitsas wrote.

Scarborough responded by saying, “Unbelievable. You have a long history of spreading lies suggesting I am a murderer.”

Moulitsas says he received a message from Griffin after the incident saying he would no longer be booked on the channel for a while.

Moulitsas’s website ran an article in December 2016 making the case that there are unanswered questions regarding Klausutis’s death that need to be investigated.

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