CNN’s Scott Jennings Says Trump Enemy Comey Shouldn’t Go to Jail: ‘Not a Crime to Be a Weirdo’

GOP analyst Scott Jennings said that former FBI director James Comey should not go to jail for posting a photograph of seashells forming the numerical phrase “86 47.”

News broke on Tuesday that a grand jury in North Carolina returned an indictment against Comey over an Instagram post that the Trump DOJ is claiming constituted a threat on President Donald Trump’s life.

When asked about the case, Trump agreed the post constituted a threat that “probably” endangered his life, claiming that “that means kill ’em!”

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, guest anchor Sara Sidner hosted a panel that included Jennings, Neera Tanden, T.W. Arrighi, John Avlon, Ana Navarro, and Donte Mills.

While Jennings was sympathetic to Trump’s view, he said that Comey didn’t deserve to go to jail, and that “it’s not a crime to be a weirdo”:

SARA SIDNER: Is this a vengeance tour, Scott? Is this part of that?

SCOTT JENNINGS: Well, it’s not occasionally. I mean, they’ve tried to assassinate him three times. You could forgive him for being a little on edge for all the rhetoric that’s out there.

JOHN AVLON: Well, clearly, he called for Comey’s prosecution before.

JENNINGS: Look, I’m not a lawyer. I mean, a lot of the lawyers I follow say this case isn’t going to go anywhere, so that’s number one. Number two, I mean, I think Jim Comey has become a silly weirdo with these posts and the way he acts, he’s become hyper-partisan. I think it actually tarnishes his law enforcement career the way he has acted since he left the job. Does that mean he should go to jail for that? No.

So, on this case — and also I’ve also heard lawyers say today there may be other charges, which I guess we’ll have to watch for. So, my view is some of the lawyers I follow say it’s unlikely to stick. My view of James Comey is very dim right now based on the partisan activism in which he has taken part. He’s been a — he’s become, frankly, a silly goofball.

SIDNER: But you’re allowed to be partisan and not be charged with a crime and again taken —

JENNINGS: Yes, I say it’s not a crime to be a weirdo. Thank goodness for him. Otherwise, he’d have a thousand charges.

ANA NAVARRO: I mean, listen, I actually agree that I — you know, when I — first, I didn’t know what the hell 86 meant.

I got to tell you, English is my second language. They never say 86 in La Carreta, Eighth Street in Miami, to send anything back.

SIDNER: I can confirm that.

NAVARRO: So, I have no idea what it meant.

What I — and I do agree. I think the whole Jim Comey walking down the beach and posting seashells, regardless of what he was posting with those seashells, is stupid and unseemly for somebody of his position.

That being said, it’s so rich that Donald Trump and his supporters and minions are doing this when Donald Trump himself has been the culprit and perpetrator of some of the most divisive and heated rhetoric.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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