CNN’s Abby Phillip had a blunt response to a right-wing pundit’s defense of a misleading claim made on her show by conservative panelist Scott Jennings.
During Tuesday’s broadcast, Jennings claimed that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) insisted that efforts to investigate $9 billion worth of alleged fraud in day care facilities, particularly those catering to the state’s large Somali community, amount to “white supremacy.”
Jennings was referring to Walz’s Dec. 23 speech in which he defended himself in the wake of the scandal while also suggesting that the Trump administration’s focus on Somalis smacks of racism.
“This is what happens when they target communities for their own benefit; this is what happens when they scapegoat, and this is what happens when they no longer hide the idea of white supremacy,” Walz said.
As evidence, Walz noted that Vice President JD Vance told a Turning Point USA audience two days before that “You don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
“When you hear the vice president of the United States talk about ‘Now white people won’t have to apologize for being white.’ That’s never once happened in my whole damn life.”
Jennings on Tuesday didn’t mention that Walz specifically focused on Vance’s comments and the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks against immigrant communities when he criticized the governor.
Instead, he claimed that Walz was saying investigating fraud is akin to white supremacy, and was immediately corrected by Phillip and other panelists.
Jennings later posted a clip that included his comments being called out before showing Walz mentioning white supremacy ― without mentioning the fact he was commenting on Vance’s “don’t apologize for being white” quip.
Although a Walz spokesperson later told Fox News that the governor “has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities,” Jennings got some support for his misleading remarks from another conservative pundit.
Self-proclaimed truth teller Erick Erickson took to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday morning to suggest that Jennings is some form of political prophet instead of a guy who defends the GOP on cable news.
“CNN needs to start each Scott Jennings appearance with a fact check where Scott said something previously, Abby and the panel insisted it was not so, and we start the next show with the video showing Scott was right the whole time.”
Erickson’s post was hailed by fellow followers of the GOP party line, but Phillip ― who hosts the show where Jennings made the comments ― had no time for his game.
And she was blunt. Very blunt, and told the pundit, “Give me a break,” before explaining what really happened.
“He was not referring to the fraud investigations in that clip. He was talking about Trump and Vance denigrating the Somali community,” she responded. [There’s] plenty to criticize Walz for but he did not say that investigating fraud was akin to white supremacy.”
