CNN commentator and potential contender for White House press secretary Scott Jennings seemed to struggle when asked a straightforward question about whether Donald J. Trump has a corruption problem.
Jennings was asked on The Fifth Column podcast if he believed the president’s actions raised fair concerns about corruption. Jennings didn’t give an immediate, clear answer and instead paused for several seconds before trying to dodge the question.
Jennings eventually objected to how the question was framed, calling it “very generic,” as if suggesting there were different ways to define corruption. But that pause and response simply highlighted how uncomfortable he seemed to be addressing the issue directly.
The exchange put Jennings in the familiar position of defending Trump while trying to avoid conceding a point that could be politically damaging to the president. Instead of giving a straightforward yes-or-no answer, he shifted toward debating the question itself.
For a commentator who routinely defends Trump, it was a remarkably awkward moment: a simple question about corruption produced several seconds of silence before Jennings found a way around it.
Host Michael Moynihan asked, "Does Donald Trump and the Trump administration have a corruption problem?"
That's where Jennings paused for several seconds like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Ummm. That’s a very generic question," Jennings somehow said. "I mean, is there something– pretty simple?"
"I’ve given you the easiest possible way," Moynihan said. "If I get specific, pardons, pardon the Binance guy, for instance, World Liberty Financial coins, Russian guys paying for weddings, etc."
"Well, I think they paid him back, but..." Jennings said.
"Yeah, because it was covered by the media, right?" Moynihan said.
"No, I don’t think so," Jennings replied.
Jennings was then peppered with questions about Trump's crypto scheme, selling access to the White House, and "the brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates invested $500 million in World Liberty Financial four days before the inauguration."
"And it was secret," co-host Matt Welch said. "It was secret, and the Trump family got $187 million, and the Witkoff family got $31 million. And we found out about it a year later."
"Like I said, in any specific item you could bring up in this regard, my only advice to anybody would be follow all the rules, follow all of the laws, document everything and be prepared for a probing if the other party becomes the majority party," Jennings said.
Yeah, well, Scott, perhaps you should give Donald a heads-up about following the law because he seems completely unaware of those boundaries.
