CNN host admits viral clip-seeking conservative Scott Jennings 'really disliked' on-air

CNN's Abby Phillip confessed on a recent podcast that she is aware Scott Jennings, one of the network's most brazen Trump-defenders, is broadly reviled by the audience, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday.

“I know that folks really dislike Scott for his views,” Phillip told Kara Swisher on the Pivot. “But I would say that there are views that you don’t like, that you think are unfounded, but that are pretty widely shared. I think Scott falls into that category.”

Nonetheless, she acknowledged, “There are definitely times, if you watch the show, where I will say to Scott and others, ‘just stop.’ Because we’re not playing whatever game it is that you want to play in this moment.” She went on, “If I detect that what you’re doing is playing a game of ‘let me say something that I think is going to go viral, let me misrepresent what’s being said here to try to create a moment,’ I will stop that. Scott is often involved in such moments.”

Jennings, a longtime GOP strategist, has been one of CNN's most visible panelists in defense of Trump on many occasions and has even appeared on stage at Trump rallies.

In some of the most notorious cases of panel drama, Jennings defended Trump's infamous campaign rally in Madison Square Garden, where a comedian called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," and gave cover to far-right conspiracy theories about a white genocide in South Africa. He has also been a cheerleader for Trump's federal takeover of Washington, D.C.

In the past, however, Jennings sometimes found a voice to criticize Trump, particularly in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack in 2021, when he said he believed Trump had "violated" his oath of office.