Mika Brzezinski Mugged In Washington

"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski was mugged outside her Washington, D.C. hotel Thursday morning, her co-host Joe Scarborough announced on their program. The Washington Times' Christina Bellantoni writes about the announcement, which Scarborough delivered while Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty guested on the program:

As the show began, Mr. Scarborough blasted Washington without naming the hotel, saying he needed to talk about what had just happened to his co-host.

Mrs. Brzezinski said she was embarrassed and didn't want him to tell viewers about the experience, but he detailed the mugging and complained the bell desk should have been paying attention.

"A guy walks across the street straight for her," Mr. Scarborough said, adding the hotel should "at least police five feet outside their own doors." Mrs. Brzezinski said she gave the mugger the $6 in cash she had with her, adding that he asked her for $20 and said something along the lines of "Give me money and nothing will happen."

Mr. Fenty, brought on the show to talk about education and plans for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, told the hosts the matter would be investigated.

"This is what mayors do," he said. "We are going to look at it and work with the hotel and the police department."

"Mayor it was six dollars, it's OK," Mrs. Brzezinski told Mr. Fenty. "I love that hotel. I'll need six dollars before I leave the bureau is all."

Watch Joe and Mika's retelling of the incident:

Watch the full segment with DC mayor Adrian Fenty:

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Comments

[lifesucks]

I am not even sure why Mika is on that show - when Joe is on she gets very little respect. Or she's the mother figure who has to keep the boys on track so they can go to a commercial break on time. And when there are female guests on the show, Joe listens to them and comments on their opinion.

And why Mika should feel embarassed for being mugged is beyond me; shook-up maybe.

I don't like Joe anyway.

[Nick2]

This is not acceptable. It's not okay to say, "Ahhh, she should be prepared for this in the city." I t's scary. I live in Houston. I'm a single woman who has to navigate all the travails of the city alone. I've had plenty of people in Houston, and when I travel in Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, New York City, Tampa, Atlanta, and Michigan, come at me and say, "Give me "X" amount and I'll leave you alone." It's always scary, and it is a mugging. Should no man or woman complain about it until they're knocked down to the curb? I had a serious problem outside of a hotel in Atlanta. I was trying to drag my suitcase to the train, and this guy decided I "owed him" because he walked along with me spattering gibberish. When we got to the train station he started screaming at me and called me horrible names. It was truly frightening.

You people who are discounting this should just stop.

[ECB]

Next time call a cab.

[yoli647]

If you look vulnarable the muggers will go after you, period. The guy did not attack Mika, I am sure it was scary, but she was in front of the hotel where anyone would of heard her if she screamed if she was really "mugged". Welcome to reality!!!

[Vinca]

I'M GLAD MIKA WASN'T HURT

[MrsPeel]

What's with the MRS. Brzezinski? Brzezinski is her birth name. Doesn't one use Mrs. only when using her husband's name, if she took it? I.e., Ms. Brzezinski or Mrs. Hoffer. (James Patrick Hoffer is her husband.)

[robertjames]

Get a life.

[SuesW]

I didn't know that. Yeah, why do they use Mrs? That's weird.

[ccpostman]

If ask for twenty and she gave him 6. He probably was the hotel car valet.

[rdiaz921]

HA! It probably was.

[SuesW]

lol

[jonjon66]

It was panhandler, Why Does Joe act like her father,weird.

[rdiaz921]

He's always like that. And this was a good day.

Egotistical.

[humanist1]

For all you non-urbanites:

"Give me money" = "Please Ma'm, can you spare a dime?"

"....and nothing will happen" = "If you don't I'll walk away a happy man"

[jonjon66]

Mugging? It sounds like homie asked for $20 and she said I got $6, sounds like a begger.

[Susej]

Advice to Mika,
Carry $20 bills on you at all time. They could save your life. Think of it as a life insurance on the go.
Muggers hate it when you're penniless and you dress like a million dollar.

[robertjames]

.....and the next time you go hiking in the mountains make sure to stuff your pockets with raw chicken in case you come across a mountain lion........

[Susej]

I don't live in DC but I work there and go there on weekends for dining and entertainment.
Never been mugged.
Homeless people tend to be a little aggressive by blocking your path on the sidewalk but not threatening.
DC is safer and cleaner than, say 15-20 years ago.

[fresno500]

People get mugged in DC everyday.

What the press attention to this one?

[lvmblvmb]

Because she's part of the press.

And for all of you who say it's panhandling not a mugging, I beg to differ. I am a woman and I live in New York City. If I were standing alone at 5am and someone said give me money and you won't be hurt, I would consider it a mugging regardless of if a weapon was used or not, after all, how would you know if someone demanding money of you had a weapon or not?

If a bank robber handed a teller a note saying "give me money and you won't get hurt" that's a crime even if the teller does not see a weapon. Why is this any different?

Joe may have gone on about it being traumatizing (it wouldn't be Morning Joe without Joe ranting about something), but Mika seemed to take it in stride. She was probably scared when it happened (I would be) but she didn't act like she was scarred for life and instead downplayed it.

[robertjames]

Watch your back - "TheBlackCat" is about to pounce on you!

[TheBlackCat]

Look at the posts on this site from urban dwellers "Uh, this happens to me all the time. It's called agressive pandhandling. I don't give them money. They leave."

Now I would NEVER look down on a suburbanite who's not used to very aggressive panhandling, gets scared, and hands over the money. I don't think Ms Brzezinksi did anything wrong or dumb, and i'm not surprised she was frightened.

However, according to Joe and some posters on this website...this is a traumatizing attack. TRAUMATIZING??!! ATTACK??!! If this is all it takes to traumatize you...then you have no business EVER stepping foot outside the 'burbs.

I have no problem with parents who want to raise their kids in a quiet, safe, suburban neighborhood. I have a BIG problem with parents who completely shelter their children from any concept of the real world OUTSIDE of that neighborhood. MOST of my friends in Boston weren't born here, they were raised in suburbs themselves. But they were able to adjust to city life because their parents PREPARED them for reality and didn't act like they were victims every time any little inconvenience or frightening situation happened to them. And they exposed them to places other than the comfortable, homogenic, white suburb they lived in.

If you decide to raise your children in a completely sheltered environment, you better make sure they NEVER leave that shelter. Because apparently, they just can't handle it.

[myleftfoot]

Absolutely right! We should all learn to adjust to the lowest common denominator in society.

[TheBlackCat]

LOL, the fact that you think THIS is the worst common denominator shows that you definitely ARE one of those sheltered people I talked about. I WISH this was the worst person I ever had to deal with living in the city.

[TheBlackCat]

And btw, if you knowingly go to a place where the lowest common denominator is going to be all around you, then yes you SHOULD adjust to it.

I worked in an orphanage in Mexico, I was living and working in abject squallor, violence, and poverty. I don't LIKE any of these things, I wish they didn't exist, I will involve myself in causes to decrease them. But I wouldn't have GONE to a slum in Mexico if I didn't think I could HANDLE a slum in Mexico.

So if threatening homeless people are too much for YOU to handle, then you should never go to a city and put yourself in a situation in which you may encounter them.

[myleftfoot]

"Give me money and nothing will happen."

Aggressive panhandling?

And if this guy said the same thing to a bank teller, what would be the consequences?

[TheBlackCat]

Again, you obviously don't live in the city. Read the posts of those who have. Yes, panhandlers make threats. All the time. They even FOLLOW you around, especially if you're a woman. It's very discomforting. But If they don't have a weapon or aren't physically touching me, I'm not being mugged, and I say "yeah right" when they threaten me and move along. This view is reflected by all other urbanite posters who have posted here. It's one thing to be frightened by an agressive pan handler and another to consider this a traumatizing attack and go on and on like Joe Scarborough did as if she was raped.

As far as your bank scenario...when I was younger, I worked at at Barnes and Noble here in the city, in the Prudential center. A man came up to our cafe counter and told the teenage worker there "Give me all your tens or higher or die"

His response "Let me see the gun"

The guy left. Security picked him up. Kid finished his shift as if nothing had happened, as did the rest of us.

I'm sure YOU would have had to go to therapy for ten years.

[wrenchdevil]

Everything happens for a reason..karma sucks.

[MrsPeel]

Everything may happen for a reason, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's a point to it.

[rdiaz921]

Oh there's always a point. Even not having a point serves a purpose.

[chaz]

What's the big deal morning joe mugs her every morning.

[pfc1369]

Such brutality!

In front of an expensive hotel!

Endangering rich people!

What a travesty!