Mika Brzezinski Holds Back Tears on ‘Morning Joe’ During Emotional Segment: ‘Courageous’

On the 23rd anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Mika Brzezinski choked back tears on Morning Joe.

Mika, 57, got emotional as she recalled the harrowing events of that day in 2001 while she was reporting live for CBS as a correspondent.

“We were hiding but also giving water to and interviewing firefighters who were coming into the school, getting a breath of air, getting a drink of water, and then marching right back into the towers before the second one fell,” she told viewers.

“There was one firefighter doing an interview with us and he begged us to tell his wife that he loved her, and then turned around and marched back into the towers, never to be seen again,” Mika continued. “Those moments made me realize this was like nothing we had ever seen before. And all of those firefighters and cops walking in there were not going to walk out.”

A clip from the episode was posted on the show’s Instagram page, with many praising Mika in the comments section for talking about what she saw that day in 2001.

“Mika, I know how courageous you were, on that day, reporting from the site, as the towers fell. Memories that will last a lifetime and beyond,” one person commented.

“This moved me to tears. Thank you so much for sharing the story of this hero,” another wrote.

“I have goosebumps at your words of the day by the towers,” another said.

In a previous September 2021 Instagram post, Mika shared a clip of the CBS broadcast from the day of the attacks.

“We ran to a school — got a landline —started reporting and stayed there interviewing firefighters who came in to get a drink of water, and we watched them march back in to the remaining tower,” she wrote in her caption. “When the second tower fell, the school was engulfed in the massive rolling debris. Complete darkness. I could hear the debris smashing the windows in the darkness.”

“I will never forget exactly what 9/11 looked and felt like. Usually it’s a bright, brilliant, blue sky that triggers my memory,” she said. “The vivid sparkling sunshine and crisp air reflected the promise of a new beginning. An election. A new job. First days of school for little children. Renewal.”

In the weeks following the attack, Mika returned to Ground Zero to continue reporting.

“I wanted to report the story until there was no story; weeks later I left Ground Zero and went right to my daughter’s kindergarten and I just collapsed and started crying,” the journalist, who shares daughters Emilie and Carlie with ex-husband Jim Hoffer, told Know Your Value. “The teachers were like, ‘You need to go home and get some rest.’”

Once she was home, she said “it really hit me how hard it had been, how traumatic it had all been. I felt almost guilty about my family being intact after what had happened to so many people. Like, my God, I get to go home.”