Other Republicans piled onto Romney’s criticism Wednesday, with Rep. Peter King of New York — who once served with Scarborough — suggesting the president back down. The veteran Republican said regardless of his differences with Scarborough, Trump’s attacks were “out of bounds” and that there are “no records of something as serious as that.”
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — the No. 3 House Republican — also weighed in, telling reporters on the Hill that Trump „should stop tweeting“ about Scarborough.
“We’re in the middle of a pandemic,“ Cheney said. „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.”
Timothy J. Klausutis’ wife, Lori, died at age 28 from a fall precipitated by an undiagnosed heart condition, as confirmed by the medical examiner and police. Her death has been the subject of baseless conspiracy theories and has continued to make headlines because of her employer at the time: then-GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough, in whose Florida office Lori Klausutis was working when she died. Scarborough, now the co-host of MSNBC’s „Morning Joe,“ was in Washington when she passed.
The death from 2001 has been dragged back into the spotlight in recent weeks by the president, who has floated conspiracy theories that Scaroborugh — a one-time Trump friend who has joined the ranks of his most vocal critics — might have been involved in Klausutis’s death. The president’s family, too, has been quick to jump on board with the baseless conspiracy theories, tweeting about Klausutis’ death multiple times this month.
Klausutis’ letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey drew widespread attention after being published in a New York Times op-ed by Kara Swisher. The widower called on the social media giant to take down the tweets, writing that the president had taken “something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain.”
Klausutis said that per his reading of Twitter’s terms of service, users would be banned for tweets like Trump’s. He also wrote about the enduring pain of his wife’s unexpected and early death, and said the conspiracy theories have only made it harder to heal.
“I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her memory and our marriage,” he wrote. “As her husband, I feel that one of my marital obligations is to protect her memory as I would have protected her in life.”
But Klausutis’ letter did little to move the company or the president. A Twitter spokesperson said the company would not be removing any of the posts at this time.
“We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
Trump doubled down on his attacks Tuesday after the letter garnered widespread attention. He incorrectly described it a “cold case,” and called Scarborough a “Psycho.”
“So many unanswered & obvious questions, but I won’t bring them up now! Law enforcement eventually will?” the tweet said.
— Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.
Source: politico.com
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