CNN panelists sparred about President Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C. in a fiery exchange that culminated in one pundit accusing the other of giving the president “nightly” fellatio.
Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and conservative commentator Scott Jennings appeared on NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Wednesday evening to discuss Trump’s federal takeover of Washington and deployment of the National Guard after the president declared a “crime emergency.”
Discussing what he believes making a city safe means, Jennings said for the nation’s capital, that could include reductions in violence and carjackings and locals feeling “like they can walk around and not be under threat all the time.” He said the federal authorities have already made “substantial progress,” pointing to dozens of arrests, and suggested Congress assess the effort after 30 days.
The discussion derailed after Roginsky brought up the January 6 Capitol riot.
“I guess I’m old enough, Scott, to remember when you were appalled as the rest of us were on January 6th when he wouldn’t –” she began, before Jennings interrupted: “Because January 6th happened, should we not enforce the law today?”
Jennings then called Roginsky’s remarks a “silly argument,” prompting her to snap back: “Let me finish before you make a point about a silly argument.”
The pair continued to interrupt each other until Phillip tried to intervene. At one point, Roginsky accused Jennings of being “thirsty” for a Senate seat. The conservative pundit then slammed: “What are you thirsty for? Some kind of relevance out here?”
Roginsky eventually returned to the point she was initially trying to make.
“On January 6th, [Trump] could have deployed the National Guard. He chose not to,” she said. The Democratic strategist argued that the president is choosing now to deploy troops to D.C. in the wake of an alleged attack against a former DOGE staffer — widely known as “Big Balls” — and noted that violence in the city hit a 30-year low this year.
Jennings later promoted a clip of the tense back-and-forth on his X account.
Trying to summarize his view of the exchange, he wrote Thursday morning: “ME: ‘Murder is bad and Trump is right for trying to prevent them.’”
He then took a dig at his sparring partner: “DEM: ‘BUT JANUARY 6th!’ (NOTE: I still have no idea who this person is or what they do for a living, other than make Democrats look stupid on TV)”
Mocking his format, she wrote in a scathing post: “(Note: I am someone who doesn't fellate the president nightly for a senate seat I will never get, which makes me different from you, Scott.)”
Jennings previously held campaign positions for Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who announced in February that he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2026. Last month, Jennings suggested he would consider a potential Senate run, but said he would defer to Trump on the matter.
“I do think politics is a team sport, and I think Trump’s the head coach, and eventually he’s gonna weigh in on this,” he said on Real America’s Voice show Bolling! “My political advice would be to anybody, you know, if he calls a play, we’re gonna have to run it … so I don’t really have any announcement about it at the moment.”
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