Trump first tweeted the claim in 2017 about Lori Klausutis, who worked in Scarborough’s Fort Walton Beach congressional office. She was found dead in the office in 2001. Scarborough served in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 as a Republican for the 1st district of Florida.

The coroner discovered an undiagnosed heart condition and reported that Klausutis passed out and hit her head as she fell. He said she was not struck by another person. Scarborough was in Washington, DC at the time of her death.

At the time of Trump’s comments, Scarborough was host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe alongside wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who was also personally targeted by Trump for “bleeding badly from a face-lift.”

Trump renewed attacks in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time of the May 4 tweet, nearly 70,000 Americans had died of COVID-19. At the time of his May 12 tweet, it had reached over 80,000.

Scarborough responded on his show, in which he called the comments “extraordinarily cruel” and likened the claims to the Seth Rich conspiracy theories.

AP News – AP FACT CHECK: Scarborough staffer death not a “mystery”
Politifact – PolitiFact: Donald Trump’s Pants on Fire ‘unsolved mystery’ attack on Joe Scarborough
Politico – Trump promotes conspiracy theory accusing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough of murder
The Hill – Trump raises conspiracy theory to attack MSNBC’s Scarborough
Wikipedia – Joe Scarborough
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States