What To Know
- CNN’s NewsNight panel became heated as Scott Jennings criticized Sen. Jon Ossoff for ‘demeaning’ White House aide Natalie Harp.
- Host Abby Phillip challenged Jennings’ outrage, highlighting Trump’s own history of demeaning women.
- Jennings was repeatedly called out for hypocrisy and for avoiding direct answers.
CNN NewsNight descended into a shouting match on Wednesday (August 19). Scott Jennings was abruptly silenced and called out for being a hypocrite for not answering a simple question.
The panel was discussing recent comments from Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who claimed Donald Trump would rather “build a ballroom and travel with [White House aide] Natalie [Harp]” than do his job as president. Jennings took issue with Ossoff bringing a “defenseless” woman into his attack.
“I expect Ossoff to criticize Donald Trump. I expect every Democrat running for president to criticize Donald Trump,” Jennings said, per RawStory. “What I thought was appalling about this is that Harp is not a public figure. She’s not a household name. Nobody knows who she is, and when he injected her into this, he knew what he was doing, which is punching down on someone who’s effectively defenseless.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), a guest on Wednesday’s panel, asked Jennings, “Doesn’t Donald Trump do that all the time?” He pointed to demeaning comments Trump made about the late Rob Reiner and fellow CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.
As Jennings doubled down on his comments about Ossoff, host Abby Phillip abruptly interrupted him to play a montage of the president attacking women, including Rosie O’Donnell, Hillary Clinton, and several female reporters, including Collins.
“If you’re going to be outraged over traveling on a plane with Natalie, are you going to be outraged over all those things?” Phillip asked Jennings.
The conservative commentator replied, “I do not believe in demeaning women in any way.”
Democratic political strategist Keith Boykin then called Jennings out for not answering the question directly. “Are you outraged or not?” he repeatedly asked while Jennings kept saying Harp is not a public figure. Boykin argued that the members of the media on the receiving end of Trump’s vitriol aren’t either.
“You are avoiding the question again, Scott Jennings!” Boykin shouted.
Jennings leaned away from Boykin, accusing him of shouting in his ear. “By the way, you at home have no idea how loud this is,” the MAGA supporter said.
“You have no idea how dishonest you are,” Boykin fired back.
You can watch the full segment in the video above and let us know your thoughts below.
CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Weekdays, 10/9c, CNN