The 23-year-old commentator who sparked a viral outburst from CNN’s token MAGA host says it should disqualify him from being President Donald Trump’s next press secretary.
Adam Mockler tells The Daily Beast Podcast that Scott Jennings lost control during the outburst, which came as part of a desperate defense of Trump’s never-ending war with Iran.
“He lost control of himself, and it’s embarrassing,” Mockler said. “I can’t picture him standing up there as the press secretary in these combative environments.”
He continued, “I mean, him getting personal with me on the panel is just so below what an experienced anchor should do. I’ve been doing CNN hits for one year. He’s been doing it for a decade. The fact that he lost his s--t due to the Iran war is very indicative of how thin-skinned he is.”
Jennings, 48, blew up at Mockler during an April panel on NewsNight with Abby Phillip, after Mockler pressed him on what political concessions the U.S. secured from Iran during Trump’s war, which was still only eight weeks old at the time.
Mockler told host Joanna Coles he thought Jennings had gotten “increasingly frustrated” after backing himself into an “indefensible position” by defending a war Trump had initially claimed would be over within five weeks.
“It just got more and more awkward behind the scenes, and I could tell he felt like he was in a weird position,” he recounted.
Mockler said Jennings often “takes advantage” of the show’s time limit and the “generosity” of other panelists to dodge questions, but he was determined to “pin him down.” So he says he kept pressing Jennings about Iran’s supposed concession.
“I think he was genuinely annoyed at me asking him questions, and he was trying to undermine my credibility,” Mockler said.
The conservative pundit took personal shots at Mockler throughout the segment, telling him, “When you get up past your bedtime, you get hyper.” Jennings later said that the Gen Z guest has “the attention span of a gnat.”
Jennings eventually snapped as Mockler gesticulated and said, “Name me one political concession...”
“Get your f--king hand out of my face, first of all!” Jennings barked.
Phillip intervened, saying, “Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, excuse me,” and tried to get Jennings back on course.
The pundit finally responded to Mockler’s question by saying, “We have a very simple goal: to keep terrorists and a terrorist regime from having a nuclear weapon that can threaten the United States, our interests in the region, our allies in Europe, anybody else in the world.”
“So you can’t answer the question,” Mockler replied.
Mockler said this week that Jennings was “very clearly feeling cornered, very immature and unprofessional,” and that things got even more awkward when Jennings began talking about sports to “defuse the tension” during a commercial break.
Jennings did not respond to a request for comment.
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