CNN panel goes off the rails as Trump booster blames State Department plug for Mar-a-Lago on Obama

A CNN discussion on Trump’s first 100 days took a wild turn Monday night when Trump-backing former Congressman Jack Kingston defended the Trump family for cashing in on the presidency.

After CNN regular Ana Navarro criticized first daughter Ivanka Trump for selling "Trump shoes and Trump handbags,” the discussion pivotted to the State Department plugging Mar-a-Lago on a government website.

“The State Department website got a lot of attention for plugging the president's Mar-a-Lago resort.,” CNN host Jake Tapper offered. “It was also on the website of the U.S. embassy in the U.K.”

“It's outrageous. It’s completely outrageous,” CNN regular Van Jones stated. “Part of the thing that is shocking to me is, with a few exceptions, you don't hear conservatives shouting about this. One of the things you want to be able to rely on the conservatives for is limited government, clean government, small government. It's outright kleptocracy from what I can see.”

“This is -- you literally have somebody who says, my house, my business is the winter White House,” he continued. “This is an ad. -- you would pay a billion dollars for this ad. “

Asked to respond, Kingston attempted to blame government bureaucracy for the plug that benefited the president.

“I'm happy the White House reacted immediately and the thing came down." Kingston began. “But I also want to point out, this is part of a $72 million click-bait campaign the State Department previously engaged in. It was not done under the Trump administration. “

As Navarro pushed back, pointing out that Trump has been having highly-promoted meetings at the resort with world leaders, Kingston tried another angle – blaming it on the Obama administration.

“C’mon, c’mon, Jack,” panelist David Gergen exclaimed as the rest of the panel either moaned, laughed or tried to talk over Kingston

Gergen then delivered the smack down.

“Jack, it's not true you can blame this on bureaucracy,” Gergen lectured. “Presidents create a culture within the White House, you know that. People take their cue from how the president acts. When the president and his family are so close to the line, I think they have created blurry lines, and there's a deep sense that they are being enriched.”

Watch the video below via CNN: