CNN panelist Scott Jennings made a desperate play to be President Donald Trump’s next press secretary.
Jennings, 48, is one of the names being touted to replace the outgoing Karoline Leavitt, 28, who has thrown in the towel to spend more time with her new baby and 60-year-old husband.
Jennings announced his candidacy for the job by defending Trump’s assistant Natalie Harp, 35, calling Senator Jon Ossoff a “sucker punching coward” after he name-dropped her in an attack on Trump.
Jennings was reportedly so pleased with himself that he then sent clips of his riposte to senior White House staffers, a source told Politico’s Playbook, sparking suggestions that he used it as an informal audition.
“I just don’t think that’s what you sign up for when you’re someone like Natalie Harp, who never put her name on a ballot. She’s not the White House press secretary. She’s not a household name, and I just find it to be appalling,” he told Playbook. “Somebody needs to defend her honor.”
Harp is Trump’s special assistant and executive assistant and is reportedly one of the few aides who snuck onto a third plane via a catering truck in Turkey with him, according to reports, amidst a credible threat from Iran. She earns $150,000 a year for her troubles. Harp previously worked for the far-right television channel One America News Network from 2020 to 2022.
Sources close to the president told the newsletter that he has had his eye on the job since Trump returned to power, but whether his would-be boss is interested in him is another matter.
Speaking to NOTUS, a source said that while Trump is interested in Jennings, he is not sold on him as Leavitt’s successor.
This comes despite sources telling the news site that Trump is eager to get a man into the job to prevent comparisons between Leavitt and the new appointee.
Other names being floated include Harp and George W. Bush’s former comms boss, Ari Fleischer.
Across his two terms, Trump has largely chosen women as his chief press representative, with the only man being Sean Spicer, who held the job for the first six months of his first term. He was replaced by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then Stephanie Grisham, and then Kayleigh McEnany.
If Jennings were appointed to the role, it would mark his second stint in government, having been appointed Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs under George W. Bush in 2006.
The Daily Beast revealed Jennings’ positioning in the race last week.
Sources familiar with the situation said the former adviser to Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was the favorite for the job.
On CNN last week, Jennings again chose to suck up to the administration.
“Karoline Leavitt has been maybe the greatest White House press secretary in the last 30 years, at least. She’s been nothing short of brilliant,” he said. “I don’t know a single Republican in the country who isn’t in awe of and in appreciation of Karoline tonight. So Godspeed on your journey back to your family. You’ve done great stuff.”
Ossoff caught the ire of Jennings after he name-dropped Harp, nicknamed the human printer, during a rally, saying of Trump: “He golfs and trades stocks. He wants to build a ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
