Al Sharpton Explains to Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski Why He Didn’t Meet With Trump Amid Backlash To Their Mar-a-Lago Visit

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton recalled previously turning down his own opportunity to meet with President-elect Donald Trump while discussing the backlash to Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s trip to Mar-a-Lago.

Scarborough and Brzezinski’s visit with Trump has surprised many, considering the pair have regularly described the former president as a threat to democracy and Trump has promoted false conspiracy theories about Scarborough that include murder. Sharpton defended the pair speaking to Trump and pushed for him to appear on Morning Joe and answer certain issues like the lack of diversity among his cabinet picks.

“When we have a new president, and that’s who Donald Trump is, regardless of my views of him. We’ve got to figure out how we have people not suffer more than they can suffer if we’re not dealing with that. That’s why when there were those — and there were not as many as I thought that said, why would you and Mika meet with Donald Trump? He’s already president. If you can meet with him, meet with him,” Sharpton said on Tuesday’s Morning Joe.

The meeting, according to Sharpton, is no different than Vice President Kamala Harris speaking to Fox News’ Bret Baier.

“On one side, she can talk to Bret Baier, but on the other side, he shouldn’t come on Morning Joe? I don’t think we have an equal judgment here because I think all sides should be talking to all sides,” he said.

Sharpton revealed, however, that such meetings with Trump are not his “role,” explaining he turned down a meeting with Trump after his first election victory in 2016, feeling the Republican would promote it the wrong way.

“Donald Trump called me after he won the first time; I wouldn’t meet with him because I felt that it would be a photo-op and he’d promote it wrongly, even though we should be discussing issues and we talked on the phone since then,” he said. “But I know he’s a promoter. If he had been born black, he would have been Don King. That’s what he does well.”

Scarborough and Brzezinski have dismissed backlash to their visit, explaining that the “restart” of communications with Trump is an effort to take a “new approach” to covering the incoming administration.

Watch above via MSNBC.