MAGA pundit Scott Jennings flipped quickly into deflection mode when grilled on CNN about his possible future boss banning the network that employs him.
The 48-year-old is considered among the frontrunners to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, but finds himself torn between two masters after Donald Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the building.
In solidarity, rival TV networks NBC, ABC, CBS and even Fox News suspended White House pool duties and refused to cover Trump’s media appearances in New York on Monday.
The three banned outlets are suing the president, claiming that his move violates the First and Fifth Amendments. The suit was filed in federal court in D.C. on Monday and is due to be heard on Wednesday.
Jennings made his regular appearance on CNN’s NewsNight on Monday, where guest host Sara Sidner said, “Scott, I don’t know if you know this, but your name is up for running for the next press secretary.”
“Hmm,” he replied, before the host asked if he agreed with the president’s press ban.
Jennings ignored the question. “I think he’s unlikely to prevail in court,” he said.
He continued, “It seems to me the net result of this has been, he has less reach. And his message is not going to get out as much. If this sort of becomes the way it is, he will be seen and heard by fewer people—which I think is actually a net negative, since he’s his own best spokesperson and his own best press secretary.”
Jennings also said Trump “sparring” with reporters in the Oval Office “works to his advantage. And so if you take them out, you lose that a little bit.”
He went on, “I’m not a lawyer... but based on what I’ve heard, it’s unlikely to stick. And it might be a little self-defeating if you consider that you want the president to be heard and seen more, like I do... This seems to be working against that.”
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin, who was also on the NewsNight panel, followed up with another question to Jennings: “If you’re press secretary you’re not going to do that. Is that what you’re pledging here right now?”
Jennings again deflected with a laugh, saying, “I’m not answering that.”
The conservative then insisted there was a “difference, truthfully” between CNN, Politico and MS NOW in his opinion.
“You watch MS NOW for 10 minutes, it’s like total alternate reality,” Jennings said.
Sidner told Jennings, “Well, some people might say that about Fox.”
Jennings replied, “Yeah, Obama. He said that about Fox.”
The host pressed Jennings again, asking whether he, as a CNN employee, believes journalists at the cable network are reporting “fake news”—as Trump claimed before banning them.
“I sometimes strongly disagree with the framing,” Jennings said. “But no, I think we need to cover the news here, and I think we still can cover the news. But I consider this to be a news outlet. I consider Politico to be a news outlet. MS [NOW] is a different story in my view.”
During the episode, Rogin pointed out the fallout from Trump’s ban and Fox News’ decision to join in the boycott of the TV pool.
“If the president’s lost Fox News, that’s probably not a good sign, you know?” Rogin said.
He also pointed out Trump has “actually ensured” tougher coverage of his actions by taking access away from the press, and suggested he may have revealed what his “actual motivation” in launching the ban was.
“He doesn’t want to hear it,” Rogin said. “He doesn’t really care if you report bad things about him, he doesn’t want them to be in his face. He doesn’t want it at his desk, in his room, in his office. He’s built a cocoon around himself, where nobody ever tells him no, where his reality is just agreed to, whether it matches the reality of the rest of us are living in.”
He added, “That has its own danger, because we have a leader of the free world who is eliminating all of the feedback channels that might tell him that, hey, American people really don’t like the Iran war, hey, the American people really do care about the Epstein files, the American people really don’t think the economy is good.
“And so penetrating that bubble of Trump’s brain and his awareness is really important. I think that actually took a hit today.”
