CNN’s Scott Jennings was asked whether he supports the outlet being banned from the White House on Monday.
Joining the CNN NewsNight panel, Jennings was put on the spot as a potential contender for the next White House Press Secretary. CNN’s Sara Sidner brought up the subject to ask him whether he supports the outlet being barred from the White House, prompting the commentator to give a thoughtful analysis of the current situation.
Watch:
“Scott, I don’t know if you know this, but your name is up for running for the next press secretary,” Sidner said.
“Hm,” he responded, giving nothing away.
“So, do you support the president’s ban on the press?” Sidner pressed.
“I think he’s unlikely to prevail in court, A,” Jennings explained. “B, it seems to me the net result of this has been that he has less reach. I mean, his message is not going to get out as much. If this is 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. Number three, I actually think sparring with some of these folks in the Oval works to his advantage. And so if you take them out, you lose that a little bit. So, my view is this is unlikely to stick based on what I’ve– I’m not a lawyer either, but based on what I’ve heard, it’s unlikely to stick. And it may 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. So we’ll see what happens.”
“So, if you’re press secretary, you’re not gonna do that? Is that what you’re pledging here right now?” Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin cut in, trying to pin Jennings down.
“I’m not– I’m not answering that,” the commentator responded. “Can I add one more thing? Actually, I actually think there’s a difference between, truthfully, CNN and Politico, and MS NOW. You watch MS NOW for 10 minutes, it’s like total alternate reality. I actually think there’s a difference.”
“Well, some people might say that about Fox,” Sidner suggested.
“Yeah, Obama. He said that about Fox,” Jennings chuckled.
“Let me just ask you, though. Do you support the president’s ban on the press? Because, I mean, you work here at CNN. Do you think the journalists here are reporting fake news?” she continued, not easing up on the topic.
“Uh, I sometimes strongly disagree with the framing. 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 is a different story in my view,” he stated.
