NEW YORK — MSNBC host and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough says he’s leaving the GOP.

The “Morning Joe” co-host has become a sharp critic of President Donald Trump.

Scarborough said Tuesday during an interview with CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert that “I’ve got to become an independent.”

He appeared as a guest with his co-host and fiancé, Mika Brzezinski, who recently was attacked in sharply personal terms by the president.

Scarborough says it’s inexplicable why so many Republicans look the other way when Trump says or does something that betrays the party’s core values.

He told Colbert that “I am a Republican but I’m not going to be a Republican anymore.”

Scarborough was elected to four terms in Congress from Florida starting in 1994.