A CNN segment turned tense when anchor Abby Phillip confronted conservative commentator Scott Jennings with his own past remarks during a heated debate on Monday.
Jennings joined the panel for Monday’s edition of CNN NewsNight where they discussed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy‘s new five-part reality TV series, The Great American Road Trip, chronicling a cross-country road trip with his family.
Duffy is under fire for the show, which he spent seven months filming for YouTube to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. During that time, a number of fatal air accidents occurred.
Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg described the show as “brutally out of touch” given that the president’s war with Iran has put national average gas prices at $4.55 a gallon, leaving Americans struggling with the cost of living.
But on Monday’s NewsNight, Jennings came to Duffy’s defense, but only after Phillip aired a compilation of conservative and MAGA-aligned figures criticizing Buttigieg for taking paternity leave during his time as transportation secretary while his newborn was in intensive care.
The montage included clips of Jennings himself, wearing a cowboy hat, among those making the earlier criticisms.
“I’m a pro-family leave guy, I believe in it. But when you accept an assignment from the President of the United States, and you are confirmed by the U.S. Senate, you’re accepting a higher level of responsibility, a higher level of public service, and frankly, you ought to know that goes with some personal sacrifice. He’s not a middle manager at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, PA, OK? He is the Secretary of Transportation,” Jennings said in the video.
Phillip questioned the inconsistency, asking: “You weren’t OK with Pete Buttigieg taking a paternity leave… How can you be OK with Sean Duffy going on a road trip sponsored by people who he has to regulate?”
The show’s sponsors, including Boeing, Shell, Toyota, and United Airlines, are all companies whose business Duffy regulates as transport secretary.
“There’s no allegation that he’s not doing his job—A. B, I do think it’s good for the U.S. government to promote U.S. interests to the American people," Jennings replied.
Jennings went on to list a number of ongoing transportation issues that he said occurred while Buttigieg was filming, including “miles and miles of containers.”
Phillip clapped back, saying there was “no evidence that Pete Buttigieg wasn’t doing his job,” and urged Jennings to acknowledge his contradictions: “It’s OK to acknowledge when you were wrong.”
Still, Jennings rejected the premise of inconsistency, responding, “What was I wrong about? Buttigieg was a horrible–and he would be a horrible president,” while maintaining, “people have every right to criticize him,” and adding that Duffy is overseeing “a transformation of our air traffic.”
