CNN’s Bakari Sellers Calls Out Scott Jennings Trump Scoop With Him Sitting Right There: ‘That Wasn’t True’

CNN commentator Bakari Sellers called out a Scott Jennings scoop about President Donald Trump trumpeting an imminent Iran deal — with Jennings sitting right next to him at the Newsnight table.

The president made his thirty-somethingth announcement of a nearly-done deal with Iran on Thursday, news that predictably sent financial markets soaring.

The announcement came three weeks after Jennings reported out a “briefing from a Senior TRUMP Administration Official” with details of a deal they said was “95% done.”

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, anchor Abby Phillip hosted a panel that included Jennings, Sellers, Carla Sands, Xochitl Hinojosa, and Max Boot to discuss Trump’s announcement.

With Jennings at his side, Sellers cast doubt on the new deal by noting that “three weeks ago, my friend, Scott Jennings, was talking about the fact that we were on the brink of an agreement,” and “that wasn’t true”:

PHILLIP: Well, look, I mean, you’re — yes, you’re referring to what Scott Bessent said. That seems highly speculative, in part because we’re not even at a point where we’re in a place where we can talk about the frozen funds. Iran doesn’t have access to those funds now, and it’s not getting them to the table. So, siphoning money out of the frozen funds, I’m not sure how that changes their behavior right now.

We still don’t have a deal. They still have the nuclear material in their possession. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, and the bombing hasn’t worked. The cajoling hasn’t worked. Withholding money hasn’t worked. None of it has worked.

SELLERS: I don’t think we need to try to fool the American public. Iran was further away from a nuclear weapon under Barack Obama than they are today.

SANDS: That’s not true.

SELLERS: It’s a fact. I mean, you can —

PHILLIP: It’s actually — it is actually true.

SELLERS: It actually — it literally is a fact.

JENNINGS: You’re saying Iran’s holding a nuclear weapon at this very moment?

PHILLIP: Yes, absolutely.

SELLERS: And actually the bombing that you’re referring to does not damage their nuclear program or their uranium, because, as we all know, their uranium is so entrenched that you cannot actually get to it from the air.

SANDS: I don’t think they can get to it.

SELLERS: And so what you were saying is just not quite accurate.

And the other point is that the American public has gone through a great deal of pain. We’ve gone through the rise in gas prices, the rise in fertilizer costs, the closing — the closing of — can we have a discussion tonight for one hour without you mentioning Joe Biden? And the reason I say that is because Joe Biden is not the president of the United States, and the quagmire that you so clearly articulated, it’s because of Donald Trump. Let’s not forget that. And the blame lays or lies on the plate of the president of the United States, and the fact we’re not able to get out of this quagmire is all his fault.

And so what I’m simply saying is that Iran has run circles around the president of the United States. We’ve been here before. Just three weeks ago, my friend, Scott Jennings, was talking about the fact that we were on the brink of an agreement, and we were going to get everything we wanted. And you know what? That wasn’t true.

SANDS: We will get everything we want, because President Trump is a strong president. I blame every president that came before him that didn’t stop this program.

SELLERS: My kids are so excited every Christmas, and they get everything they want because Santa brings it.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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