‘Stop talking’: CNN panel spirals into shouting match over DOJ ‘weaponization’ claims

President Donald Trump’s controversial speech at the Department of Justice on Friday sparked a fiery CNN debate between two guests that sent accusations flying over a weaponized Justice Department, under Joe Biden and the current administration, and left the host struggling to keep order.

The tense exchange played out on CNN’s “NewsNight” as radio host and GOP political strategist Melik Abdul continued to insist that Biden’s administration "weaponized the Department of Justice.” That left Tara Setmayer, an ex-Republican and former senior advisor for the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, fuming.

“This is insanity,” Setmayer declared before adding, “Joe Biden, unlike Donald Trump, did not say 100 times to go after his enemies,” as she raised her voice over Abdul’s.

“We haven’t even gotten there yet!” Abdul responded. “It is a slippery slope,” he added.

“Oh my goodness,” an exasperated Setmayer responded. That’s when CNN’s Abby Phillip jumped in.

“Malik and Tara please stop talking for just a second,” Phillip said. “Because we can’t all hear you when you’re talking at the same time.”

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Abdul, a member of Black Americans for Trump Coalition, used his airtime on the show to point out that “we shouldn't ignore the point that Donald Trump was making about the weaponization of the Justice Department” – which prompted Setmayer to respond: “Are you serious? Come on.”

Setmayer, co-founder and CEO of the Seneca Project, earlier in the segment asked Abdul directly: “Would you sit here and say it was just a typical stump speech if Barack Obama or President Biden or President Clinton ever said the things that Donald Trump just said?”

That exchange led Phillip to ask Setmayer to give her “a second” as she addressed Abdul herself and got him to concede that Trump should not “have been at the Department of Justice talking about news outlets being illegal, or any of that.”

But the Republican still wasn’t ready to admit that he was “offended” by allegations that Trump is weaponizing the DOJ. He added: “I think it's pretty hypocritical for people to now be concerned about the weaponization of the Justice Department.”

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