CNN’s Scott Jennings Struggles to Defend Trump’s ‘Ornery Insults’ at WHCD: ‘Going to Be Controversial’

Even CNN’s Scott Jennings had a hard time defending President Donald Trump’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner jokes.

The reliably pro-Trump pundit praised the president for appearing at the rescheduled dinner but readily acknowledged some of the commander in chief’s attempts at humor — which included comparing CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney — simply didn’t “land.”

Jennings found the bright side in the roughly hour long speech:

He started the speech with something that I thought was good and necessary. We do not yield to political violence. I thought that was probably the best line of the speech, given the nature of the event tonight.

And he ended the speech by saying, I have great respect for your profession. Now the middle of it is going to be controversial because some of the jokes landed and some of the jokes didn’t.

I thought the best joke was the RFK joke. You know, I hope you enjoyed the beef. He ran over the cow that I think, that was probably the best joke of, some of the jokes veered off into very, sort of ornery insults.

And that’s not going to land for many audiences. But I did like the part about not yielding to political violence. And I did like the fact that he did show respect to the press and their role in our American politics.

Trump made his first appearance at the event Friday, after the annual event was rescheduled from May 5 when a California man named Cole Tomas Allen allegedly opened fire in what authorities said was an assassination attempt on the president.

The president’s appearance with the press group also came after his Department of Justice issued, then was forced to withdraw, subpoenas to four journalists from The New York Times over their reporting of security issues involving the new Air Force One, a legal move which shocked many.

Watch above via CNN.

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