‘Why Is That Okay?… Scott!’ CNN’s Abby Phillip Grills Scott Jennings on January 6 Pardons
CNN’s Abby Phillip pressed her colleague Scott Jennings for answers about the sweeping pardons and commutations President Donald Trump offered to January 6 defendants on Monday night, pushing him to articulate his own feelings about the decision, rather than Trump’s thinking.
“Donald Trump gave blanket pardons, basically, with the exception of a couple of, a handful of people, including people who were violent, including people who assaulted police officers,” began Phillip. “Scott, why is that okay?”
“Well, if you were Donald Trump, you would say that I think these people were, in many cases unfairly charged or overcharged, and I made a promise and I kept it. I mean, that’s going to be his political argument,” answered Jennings.
“Do you think that’s true?” followed up Phillip.
Here’s how the tense conversation went from there:
JENNINGS: Look, I think that most of these people, vast majority of these people, paid some kind of price and a deep price for what they did. I don’t like what they did, I didn’t like it the day it happened, I don’t like it today. But they did pay a price. Most went to jail, served a term, were financially ruined, had their lives effectively ruined by this process. There’s no question they faced consequences, unlike if you get a preemptive pardon when you face no consequences. So I think if he were arguing it out, he would say, ‘I don’t agree with the way they were handled by the Justice Department, and it’s my prerogative to make, to make the-
PHILLIP: Yeah, I guess I’m not asking you what Donald Trump’s position is. I’m just asking you as a as a person, as a Republican, as a human being. These are people who were sentenced, but they also committed a particular kind of crime that the government has a very distinct interest in preventing from ever happening again. Don’t you think that there is a responsibility for that to remain on their record, for people to take responsibility for them, for the country to understand there’s no get out of jail free card if you try something like that again.
JENNINGS: They didn’t get a-, I mean, they all faced punishment
PHILLIP: Scott!
JENNINGS: They all faced punishment, and so-
Watch above via CNN.
