Conservative CNN contributor Scott Jennings mocked chief media correspondent Brian Stelter’s reporting that offered a new explanation for why “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with President-elect Donald Trump after years of unhinged criticisms against their former friend.

Stelter reported that according to “two sources,” Scarborough and Brzezinski wanted to meet with Trump because they were “credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration.”

As Stelter talked about his reporting, Jennings chuckled at the reasoning offered by the unnamed sources. Jennings pointed out the two hosts did not say that fear was the reason for the meeting when they revealed what happened at at Mar-a-Lago.

‘So there is an environment, Scott, where there are understandable concerns.’

“If that’s what happened and if that’s what they truly believed, why didn’t they go on TV and say that? ‘We went down there to meet with the president to tell him that, hey, anyone who’s been critical of you, you know, you should treat us like journalists and not like the enemy,'” Jennings said.

“They didn’t go on TV and say that. They went on TV and portrayed it much differently. So what I hear you saying in your reporting is they had a motive that they weren’t willing to disclose to their audience, which I think should get them more scorn today than they were already getting to begin with,” he continued.

“I understand some people might think this is paranoia inside MSNBC, for example. There are some people who think these fears I’m describing are way overblown. But then there’s others who are worried about prosecution. So there’s a wide range of concerns right now,” Stelter explained.

When Jennings asked what exactly people in the media industry are so afraid of, Stelter said, “Last week, Steve Bannon said, ‘Lawyer up, you MSNBC producers.’ So there is an environment, Scott, where there are understandable concerns.”

Scarborough and Brzezinski’s sit-down with Trump at his South Florida estate has been met with laughter from MAGA supporters and intense criticism from the liberal camp. For years, especially in the days leading up to the election, both hosts used their program to claim Trump was very dangerous for the country.

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