Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough are firing right back at President Trump ... claiming he reached out to help them fend off an unflattering report about their relationship, but with a major string attached.
The co-hosts/engaged couple claim several Trump administration officials called them repeatedly with the offer over a National Enquirer story about them having an affair -- but they said Joe had to call the President first.
They made it seem like the offer was ... grovel to Trump, and he'll have the story killed.
Joe and Mika dropped the bombshell allegation on "Morning Joe" Friday morning. They actually canceled vacation plans so they could be on the air to respond to Trump's Thursday morning tweets -- where he claimed Mika was bleeding from a facelift when they begged him to attend a party at Mar-a-Lago.
As for that claim ... they addressed it straight on, and told a much different story about how they ended up at the President's New Year's bash -- and the facelift? Mika copped to having a procedure, but added ... that's far from the biggest issue here. She's right.
Interestingly, she also did exactly what Trump did -- plastic surgery shaming. Poor form?
Trump has already responded on Twitter, calling them liars.
Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show
But wait ... there's more. Joe just responded and said Trump's lying and he can prove it.
Yet another lie. I have texts from your top aides and phone records. Also, those records show I haven't spoken with you in many months. https://t.co/TZWiElo6Gs