Scott Jennings snaps back at CNN panel, says report shows Trump's actions are 'hardly dictatorial behavior'
CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings countered a CNN panel suggesting that President Trump is a "dictator" with a recent report showing that Trump has been more transparent with the press than other modern administrations.
During an episode of "CNN Newsnight" on Tuesday, Jennings ripped former DNC spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa and host Abby Phillip for arguing that Trump banning journalists from the White House makes him like a dictator. The conservative responded by citing a post from a former CNN journalist revealing that Trump has answered many more questions than former President Biden so far into his term.
"Our old friend — our old friend Chris Cillizza, who calculated that in the first month of the Trump Administration, the president took 1,009 questions. Hardly dictatorial behavior," Jennings said, mentioning the ex-CNN man's recent X post.
Jennings felt obliged to roll out the stat after Hinojosa talked about Trump's alleged abuse of the press. During the panel, she said, "When Trump doesn't like a question, he doesn't like a story in The New York Times, he doesn't like anything that someone says about him, he can ban those individuals."
"That's something a dictator would do. That is something that is scary frankly," she added.
Echoing Hinojosa's thoughts, Phillip read an X post from New York Times reporter Peter Baker, which stated that Trump's handling of the press "reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access."
Jennings rejected Hinojosa and Phillip's insinuations. He mentioned how Cillizza's post — which cited a National Journal study on the number of questions Trump has taken one month into his presidency — also pointed out how few Biden took during his first month by comparison.
"Same stat for Joe Biden: 141," Jennings said. "And I would remind you all that in 2023, the Biden Administration revoked the hard passes of 442 journalists."
Phillip tried to push back, asking the commentator how many of these 442 journalists were removed from the White House press pool because they weren't attending White House press events enough. Finding that context less relevant than the host, Jennings replied, "I don't know. They lost their access. They lost their access. 442."
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