Scott Jennings issued a rare warning to President Donald Trump on Monday during a CNN panel discussion.
Jennings, a long-time GOP political consultant and senior political commentator at CNN, joined the panel on CNN's "NewsNight," where he was asked about the new $1.776 billion fund President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is putting together to pay the president's allies who claim they were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration. The fund is being created as part of a settlement agreement to a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS for allegedly leaking his tax returns to harm his reputation.
"All of this makes me a little uncomfortable because it's a lot of money, and it didn't go through the U.S. Congress," Jennings said about the fund. "That's number one. Number two, I don't want to see a president necessarily handpicking people to get payments where he could be accused of just picking people out who are political allies."
Reporting about the fund indicates that the Attorney General would be allowed to pick the five-member commission that holds sway over the payments. Trump could remove one of the members for any reason, and there is a stipulation that says the federal government can't be held liable for any crimes committed by people who receive the money.
Jennings also expressed concern about people involved in the January 6 insurrection who attacked police officers receiving payments.
"My personal view is that anybody who committed documented violence against the government or against police officers has not been unfairly treated if they ended up being convicted of a crime because of the violence they committed," Jennings said. "I got no real sympathy for them."
