--- title: White House Defends Donald Trump After "Morning Joe" Tweets description: The White House continued its defense of Trump's controversial tweets about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. canonical: https://time.com/4840000/donald-trump-mike-brzezinski-tweets-face-lift/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-29T19:28:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:23:26.715Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Spokeswoman Defends Trump's 'Face Lift' Tweets og:description: "I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that he fights fire with fire" og:url: https://time.com/4840000/donald-trump-mike-brzezinski-tweets-face-lift/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfad17b4152f1394/6988d40efb4eac626d892b83/white-house-defiant-president-donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Trump reacts to a reporter's question during a joint news conference with Romanian Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Spokeswoman Defends Trump's 'Face Lift' Tweets twitter:description: "I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that he fights fire with fire" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfad17b4152f1394/6988d40efb4eac626d892b83/white-house-defiant-president-donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'He's Going to Hit Back.' 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 29, 2017 7:28 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to a reporter's question during a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, June 9, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump reacts to a reporter's question during a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, June 9, 2017. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 29, 2017 7:28 PM UTC [The White House](http://time.com/4839711/vice-president-mike-pence-josh-pitcock-nick-ayers/) is defending President Donald Trump’s [controversial tweets](http://time.com/4838899/donald-trump-twitter-morning-joe-mike-brzezinski/) about _Morning Joe_ co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, which included a widely condemned comment about Brzezinski’s appearance. “When he gets attacked he’s going to hit back,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Thursday’s press briefing. “I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that he fights fire with fire.” The President was widely criticized, [even by members of his own party](http://time.com/4839060/donald-trump-republican-senators-mika-brzezinski-tweet/), after [tweeting about Brzezinski and Scarborough.](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/880410114456465411) “I heard poorly rated \[Morning Joe\] speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came . . . to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!,” Trump tweeted. Before Trump sent the tweet, the MSNBC co-hosts were jabbing the President over _The Washington Post’s_ [report](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-time-magazine-with-trump-on-the-cover-hangs-in-his-golf-clubs-its-fake/2017/06/27/0adf96de-5850-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876%5Fstory.html) revealing that several fake Trump-themed TIME covers hang on the walls of the President’s golfing clubs. After showing a photograph of the faux cover, Brzezinski joked that Trump is “covering his hands because they’re teensy.” Sanders, reiterating [comments she had made earlier in the day on Fox News,](http://fortune.com/2017/06/29/donald-trump-twitter-melania-mika-brzezinski/) said the President sent the tweets in response to what she called unfair coverage of himself and his administration. “The only person I see a war on is the President or anyone who works for him,” Sanders said. “I am a woman and I’ve been attacked by this show multiple times,” Sanders continued, when asked about claims that Trump’s tweet revealed his deeper attitudes towards women. “But I don’t cry foul because of it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4840000/donald-trump-mike-brzezinski-tweets-face-lift/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4840000/donald-trump-mike-brzezinski-tweets-face-lift/"},"headline":"'He's Going to Hit Back.' 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