CNN Anchor Calls Scott Jennings Out For Denying Trump ‘Genocide’ Threat Happened: ‘Let Me Just Reiterate—’

CNN anchor Abby Phillip called out conservative analyst Scott Jennings when he denied President Donald Trump’s threat of “genocide” against 90 million Iranians “didn’t happen” by reading out the post to her audience.

This week, the president attacked Pope Leo XIV right before disgorging the infamous now-deleted post depicting himself as Jesus, and then continued to assail the pontiff.

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, anchor Abby Phillip hosted a panel that included Jennings, Val Demings, Caroline Downey, David Hogg, Margaret Donovan, and Ana Navarro to discuss the issue.

During the conversation, Hogg referenced Trump’s threat to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran if a deadline passed without a deal being struck, calling it a threat of “a genocide of 90 million people.”

When Jennings said “It didn’t happen,” Phillip stepped in to remind the audience of what Trump said:

NAVARRO: Don’t you think that opportunity goes both ways? In other words, it’s also an opportunity for the president of the United States to cultivate an alliance with the leader of the Catholic Church and other foreign leaders, frankly, because what he’s done by taking on the pope is not just antagonize Catholics, he’s antagonized people like his ally, Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, where the Vatican is.

I mean, you know, the Reagan, John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher thing was years of cultivation of relationships, not 4:00 in the morning tweets, Scott. It’s irrational what he’s doing, and you know it.

JENNINGS: Well, it’s not irrational to stand up to the Iranians.

NAVARRO: It’s irrational to be posting it. It’s irrational to be posting picture of himself —

(CROSSTALKS)

DAVID HOGG, PRESIDENT, LEADERS WE DESERVE: Is it rational to threaten a genocide of 90 million people? Is that rational, Scott, to threaten a genocide of 90 million people on Easter Sunday?

JENNINGS: It didn’t happen.

HOGG: What did he meant by that?

PHILLIP: Well, Scott, you know what he’s referring to.

JENNINGS: I do.

(CROSSTALKS)

PHILLIP: Let me just reiterate to the audience. The president said in a message that an entire civilization may die tonight —

HOGG: On Easter Sunday.

PHILLIP: — on — he said that. So, a lot of people read that as him threatening to wipe out an entire civilization.

So, the pope — it does seem like the pope would actually be rational to respond to that and to say — hold on — and to say, hey, we’re, we shouldn’t be in the business of war.

And I think you’re right that I’m sure the pope is happy that there is a ceasefire, but he was responding to Trump waging a war. Does he not have a right to respond to that part of it too?

JENNINGS: Well, he has a right to say whatever he wants, but I would just say we’re waging war against people who’ve been waging war against us for nearly 50 years.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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