'Total distraction': War veteran swats away GOP strategist's 'bait' during tense exchange

An Iraq War veteran flatly rejected what he felt was a deflection by a Republican strategist during a tense segment on CNN on Tuesday night.

Paul Rieckhoff joined CNN's "NewsNight" with Abby Phillip to discuss new bombshell reporting in The Atlantic that former Marine General John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump’s longest-running chief of staff, that Trump repeatedly called slain soldiers "losers."

Rieckhoff noted that amid speculation a lot of anti-Trump reports have come from dubious sources, but not this time.

"He's going on the record," said Rieckhoff of Kelly. "You're hearing his voice. He wants everybody in the world to hear his voice."

Rieckhoff finished by noting that one of the only key figures in the first Trump administration not to speak out against the former president is retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, who served as Trump's defense secretary from 2017 to 2019.

At this point, Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator who served as special assistant to former President George W. Bush, posed a question.

"What do you think of the way [President Joe] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris have treated the families of the Abbey Gate soldiers?" asked Jennings.

But Rieckhoff swatted away the question.

ALSO READ: 'He’s mentally ill:' NY laughs ahead of Trump's Madison Square Garden rally

"I'm not going to go into a different topic. No-no," he said, shaking his head. As Jennings started to protest, Rieckhoff continued. "If this was your show and you want to ask me questions we can line them up but that's a total distraction."

As Jennings again tried to protest, Rieckhoff again insisted, "No-no. I'm not going to take the bait on that."

"I've been very vocal about — I've been very vocal about Abbey Gate and other issues. We're talking about one singular issue," said Rieckhoff.

The Abbey Gate terrorist bombing in August 2021 happened during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. At least 182 people were killed, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members.

Before the panel could fall off the rails, Phillip regained control — and pushed back against Jennings.

"Even if you take that as fact, you can't just address what is on the table here which is Donald Trump, his actions, his words, his character —I mean, a year ago, I kind of wonder, a year and a half ago, if you had heard ... I mean, you probably heard about some of these things — I'm not sure that you would have defended Trump on this. So why do you defend him now?"

Jennings defended his decision to bring up Abbey Gate saying there are varying opinions on the MAGA leader "up and down" the military — a statement met with pushback from Rieckhoff, who said, "Not among all the senior officials."

Jennings said the panel has been "one-sided" and forgotten the treatment of military families by the Biden administration.

His claim was again met with pushback from Phillip, who noted no one has ever accused Biden and Harris of disparaging the families of fallen soldiers.

Watch the tense discussion below or at this link.