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Former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone said earlier this week that CNN’s Scott Jennings “doesn’t deserve a platform,” calling him “an opportunist” who curiously changed his mind on President Donald Trump to reap the benefits as a Republican heel on “NewsNight.”
TO MAGA voter mob attacks Fanone during the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 and later suffered a heart attack. he joined Mediate Substack reporter Tommy Christopher for an interview on Wednesday, flaming Jennings for much of it.
Christopher asked if there is at least some benefit to “NewsNight” anchor Abby Phillip regularly calling Jennings, but also noted that “she won’t call him a liar to his face.” While Phillip did so on social media, Fanone argued that “that’s the problem.
“The other thing he’s doing is elevating Scott Jennings’ platform to a position where he now has this tremendous podcast and has become a darling of the right,” Fanone added. “Scott Jennings doesn’t deserve a platform!”
Fanone also noted that Jennings regularly contradicts his own “relatively moderate opinions” from four or five years ago. Jennings called Trump “authoritarian” in 2016 and said he “violated his oath of office” on January 6.
Fanone added that “for every person who thinks he’s a jerk and a clown, there are 200 people on the right” who are starting to tune into CNN for Jennings because he goes on CNN “and ‘owns liberals’ day in and day out…and I just don’t think that’s healthy for the country.”
Jennings has defended several mistakes by Trump this year. He also argued that if the president were involved in the crimes of the late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, “we would already know,” even though classified documents on the matter are still awaiting release.
Phillip responded during that discussion and is aware of the criticism of his show.
Andrew Harnik/Pool/News
He said during a recent interview on “Breakfast Club” that positioning pro-Trump voices is “an opportunity” to have much-needed debates. She added that she draws her own lines on certain “NewsNight” guests and their comments “when drawing them is necessary.”
Fanone expressed a different spirit during his Substack appearance.
“I have no interest in debating MAGA,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and debate with you whether it’s inhumane or unconstitutional to rip people from their families and deport them without due process. That’s not a debate for me.”
He continued: “It’s not a debate for me to tell you about my experience on January 6. I couldn’t care less about convincing you. All I want to do is defeat you. I want to remove you and your extremist ideology from our political discourse in this country because I find it unhealthy.”