CNN’s Scott Jennings Admits Trump to Blame for Raising Gas Prices — But It’s for ‘Worthy Cause’

CNN GOP analyst Scott Jennings admitted to anchor Abby Phillip that President Donald Trump started “a war that led to higher gas prices” — but claimed it was “for a worthy cause.”

The Trump administration got more bad news this week when wholesale inflation came in more than twice as high as expected as the war in Iran roils an already-troubled economy and gas prices skyrocket.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip hosted a panel with Jennings, Bakari Sellers, Lydia Moynihan, Josh Rogin, and Beth Sanner.

When Moynihan tried to equate Trump’s Iran-related gas price hike with the blowback from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Phillip pushed back by asking “Did President Trump initiate a war that led to higher gas prices?”

Moynihan tried to evade the question, but Jennings copped to it while claiming it’s all worth it:

MOYNIHAN: I just want to point out that there is a vast trove of reporting over the last few years saying that the President shouldn’t be responsible for gas prices when Biden was in office. CNN reported Americans blamed Biden for record prices at the pump. Biden had relatively little control over the prices set primarily by global markets in 2025.

CNN reported gasoline prices are coming down, and President Trump is happy to take credit for that. I would just note that every other time period, the media tries to say that the President has anything to do with the gas price.

PHILLIP: Did President Trump initiate a war that led to higher gas prices?

MOYNIHAN: It depends who you ask.

PHILLIP: Who initiated this particular conflict?

JENNINGS: Look, the answer is yes. The answer is yes.

PHILLIP: The answer is yes. That’s it.

JENNINGS: But the question is, was it a worthy cause?

PHILLIP: That’s actually not the question.

JENNINGS: That’s how the politics shake out.

PHILLIP: That’s not the question that Lydia asked. Lydia asked who’s responsible for the gas prices going up a dollar per gallon in the last 30 days.

MOYNIHAN: When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was all Putin’s prices. Everyone was happy to blame — Russia invading Ukraine. Everyone was happy to blame Putin.

Why can’t we blame Iran?

PHILLIP: We decided that despite the risk of increased gas prices, we were going to act anyway. I’m not saying that’s a bad decision to make. I’m just saying that’s a choice that we made knowing that this was likely going to be the outcome.

So President Trump, his response to that is basically, it’s going to be brief. And if he’s right, cool. But if he’s wrong, it’s going to be a mess.

ROGIN: He claims he didn’t know. He claims it’s all a surprise and he got it all wrong. PHILLIP: He does claim that. No one else does, though.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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