CNN host Abby Phillip and commentator Scott Jennings engaged in a heated exchange on her show Monday over the legal challenges facing President Trump’s agenda.
“Every single one of these cases deals with a discreet issue,” Phillip said in reference to court orders that have temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to cut funding and downsize federal agencies.
“They’re all being dealt with by different judges. It’s not broad swaths of policy here,” she continued.
“It is,” Jennings interrupted.
“When the court says, ‘Congress appropriated this money — you must unfreeze it,’” she added, “why can’t Trump comply with that?”
“So, you’re saying a judge should decide how and when money is spent,” Jennings replied. “And not the president of the United States.”
An apparently irritated Phillip said, “Let me explain it a little more slowly.”
“You don’t have to talk to me like that,” Jennings sneered. “I have a position on this. If you disagree with me, we can talk about it.”
“But you’re not listening,” the host shot back. “And you’re making claims that are not connected to the facts.”
Jennings stated that he “totally disagreed” with a judge having the authority to approve funding for federal programs while litigation on the matter is still ongoing.
A former GOP aide, Jennings has made a name for himself on CNN defending President Trump’s agenda and sparring with various guests and hosts on the network. He was speculated to be in consideration to be White House press secretary.
Trump has been dealt a series of setbacks in the courts in the early weeks of his second term, with Democrats increasingly sounding the alarm that the White House will simply ignore those rulings. A federal judge on Monday ordered the administration to comply with a previous order unfreezing federal grant money, after Democratic states said the ruling was not being upheld.
