Trump revives unfounded conspiracy theory suggesting MSNBC host Joe Scarborough killed an intern

Thomson Reuters

U.S. President Trump speaks with reporters after meeting with McConnell and Ryan at the White House in Washington

• President Donald Trump revived an unfounded conspiracy theory about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday.
• An intern died in Scarborough's office in 2001, which authorities said was a result of a heart condition.

President Donald Trump called for "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough to be fired on Wednesday, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory about the 2001 death of an intern in Scarborough's then-congressional office.

In a tweet, the president called for both Scarborough and MSNBC president Phil Griffin to be fired, noting "Today" show host Matt Lauer's departure from NBC following internal reports that he engaged in sexual misconduct with an NBC employee. 

"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!" Trump wrote.

The tweet cited a longtime obsession for online conspiracy theorists about the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis in Scarborough's Florida district office when he was a Republican congressman. Authorities found no evidence of foul play - a medical examiner found that Klausutis died of heart problems and collapsed in the office, hitting her head. 

Scarborough responded quickly on Wednesday in a tweet, repeating his suggestion that Trump is mentally unfit for office.  

The tweets capped several days of back-and-fourth between the two, who were formerly friends before Trump assumed the presidency.

The "Morning Joe" host has been highly critical of Trump's presidency, knocking his rhetoric, tweets, willingness to engage in conspiracies, and policies on issues like immigration. He has even penned anti-Trump protest songs.

In recent days, Trump has continued to publicly and privately entertain conspiracy theories, including the long-debunked claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the US, that the famous "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump isn't actually real, and the false claim that immigrants living in the US without permission helped Hillary Clinton win the popular vote in 2016.