Morning Joe' panel calls for Howard Dean to apologize to Trump for 'coke user?' tweet

Once former Vermont Democratic Gov. Howard Dean confirmed his Twitter account was not hacked on Monday night and affirmed that the tweet wondering if Donald Trump's sniffles were due to cocaine use, media reaction was swift.

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" broached the topic early Wednesday, expressing disbelief and suggesting that the Clinton campaign should make Dean apologize for the allegation.

Host Joe Scarborough was stunned, "What in the world is going on there? A doctor diagnosing a coke problem because a guy was sniffing?" Scarborough said.

Mocking the tweet, Scarborough talked about drug testing his 8-year-old son because "he gets the flu once a month."

Regular "Morning Joe" panelist Mark Halperin from Bloomberg Politics remarked, "I hope Dr. Dean is watching, and I hope he calls in today and explains," Halperin said, adding, "If a Trump surrogate said something like that—" causing the panel to react in unison, with Scarborough saying, "A Trump surrogate would get killed."

Former congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) was on the panel and addressed the words of his "friend," Gov. Dean: "If this was said about Secretary Clinton or something in the same realm, we would be lighting this person up and urging the campaign to denounce these words."

Dean did not call in to the show.

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