CNN has brushed off criticism aimed at Scott Jennings after the political commentator spoke at Donald Trump’s rally Wednesday night - claiming it’s standard practice for its paid contributors to make political appearances.
While the network is defending the rally speech by Jennings, who has become an ubiquitous presence on CNN airwaves as the channel’s chief MAGA advocate, the cable news giant took a different stance when Fox News stars Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro were brought up on a Trump campaign stage during the president's first term.
“Is that not collusion?” then-CNN anchor Don Lemon exclaimed after the 2018 rally appearances by Pirro and Hannity, who have long been outspoken Trump backers.
Hannity’s onstage appearance, in fact, caused such a widespread uproar that it prompted Fox News to quickly and publicly reprimand him while insisting that these types of campaign cameos wouldn’t occur in the future with Fox News employees.
“FOX News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” a Fox News spokesperson said at the time. “We have an extraordinary team of journalists helming our coverage tonight and we are extremely proud of their work. This was an unfortunate distraction and has been addressed.”
During his speech in Michigan on Wednesday night commemorating his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump spotted Jennings in the crowd, who was there covering the event for the network.
“And you know, we have a man here that I don’t know, but he’s defending me all the time on CNN. And he defends me really well, but he can’t go too far because if he goes too far, he’ll get fired,” Trump bellowed from the stage. “I said, ‘You’re amazing. You can take it right to the edge.’ And he really does a good job. He’s not allowed to go any further. He’s off, you know, if he really went totally crazy, which he’d like to do. But I think he’s terrific.”
Asking “where is Scott,” the president called for the conservative pundit to make his way to the stage and say a few words. “Come here, Scott. This guy, really, I’ve watched him for years. I don’t know him. But he likes Trump,” he added.
With Jennings making his way to the rally stage, Trump claimed that “this is the end of Scott” at CNN before quipping that the longtime GOP strategist didn’t need to worry because “we’ll take care of you.”
Physically embracing the president as he approached the lectern, Jennings then briefly spoke to the crowd and referenced the notoriety he’s gained from his on-air sparring sessions with liberal CNN panelists.
“Michigan, we were flying in here today,” Jennings declared. “And I said, ‘Look at these farms. I gotta buy a farm in Michigan because when you own as many libs as I do, you gotta have a place to put them all.’ Thank you all very much!”
Following Jennings’ appearance, a CNN spokesperson noted that the network doesn’t have a problem with one of its paid commentators speaking at a Trump rally because he’s not considered a full-time staffer.
“CNN’s diverse roster of contributors provide their opinions, expert analysis, and unique perspectives to the network’s on-air coverage of a wide variety of topics,” the spokesperson said. “CNN’s Political Commentators are not full-time employees or journalists for the network and therefore may participate in political activities including fundraising, public speaking, and advocacy work.”
To the network’s point, multiple paid CNN commentators spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention, notably longtime contributor Ana Navarro, suggesting this isn’t a new policy of CNN’s.
Even if this isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison with the Hannity situation in 2018, CNN reported extensively at the time about the Fox News star’s appearance alongside the president, noting that it sparked outrage among Fox employees – especially since Hannity explicitly said ahead of time that he “will not be on stage campaigning with the president” and merely there for an interview.
“People throughout the company think a new line was crossed,” one senior Fox News employee told then-CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy about Hannity’s rally remarks. “I’m aghast as are a number of other people,” another Fox staffer told Darcy at the time.
Darcy, who now runs his own media newsletter, observed after Trump’s rally that it was a “fair question” to ask whether Jennings was a “CNN analyst or a member of Donald Trump's White House” before seemingly taking his old network to task for brushing off the appearance.
“Of course, it's unusual for an employee of a news organization to speak at a political rally, even if they do lean one way or another on the political spectrum. Fox News even once said after Sean Hannity spoke at such an event that it ‘does not condone any talent’ participating in rallies and that it had ‘addressed’ the issue internally,” Darcy wrote in his Status newsletter.
“But CNN took a different stance when I asked about the matter Tuesday evening,” he added before sharing the network spokesperson’s statement.
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