'Oh, c'mon Scott!': CNN panel erupts at GOP strategist Scott Jennings over science 'ruse'

A CNN panel erupted on Thursday night after a GOP strategist made a claim about the politicization of science.

Scott Jennings, a former senior aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined the panel on CNN's "NewsNight with Abby Phillip" to discuss the recent firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez. Monarez was dismissed from her job on Wednesday after she declined to revise the agency's vaccine schedule at the behest of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to reports.

Multiple other top CDC officials left their jobs in response to Monarez's firing.

Host Abby Phillip played a clip from Demetre Daskalkis, one of the doctors who left the CDC after Monarez was fired. In it, Daskalkis warned that Kennedy is "retrofitting" data to fit certain political narratives.

Jennings offered a curious response to the clip, which sent the panel into a frenzy.

"I just have to say, he didn't use the term 'pregnant people' in his response," Jennings said.

"Oh, c'mon, Scott!" Dr. Chris T. Pernell, director of the NAACP Center for Health Equity, replied. "That's a ruse!"

"Of all the things we're talking about here—immunizations, vaccines, autism, research on communicable diseases and cancer—and you are most concerned about someone's use of the word 'people?'" Phillip asked.

"You were just complaining about the politicization of science, and I can't think of politicization of science more than that!" Jennings responded. "It's horrible what some of these people said to the American people during COVID."

Watch the entire clip below or by clicking here.