‘I Get The Talking Point!’ CNN’s Abby Phillip Takes On Scott Jennings Over Trump-Zelensky Fracas

CNN anchor Abby Phillip pushed back on GOP analyst Scott Jennings over President Donald Trump’s clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. and accused him of parroting “talking points.”

The Trump-Zelensky clash in the Oval Office last Friday — which devolved into a stunning outright shouting match and ended with Zelensky’s ejection from the White House — has dominated the news ever since.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance insisted Zelensky was “disrespectful” in the meeting, but some observers theorized that Vice President JD Vance and Trump planned to attack Zelensky all along and waited for an opening to accuse him of insufficient gratitude.  Trump officials deny this.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip and panelist John Avlon clashed with Jennings and fellow Republican Bruce Blakeman, calling out “talking points” and rebuking the notion that Zelensky was the aggressor:

PHILLIP: What should we say thank you for? I mean, Vance opposes —

BRUCE BLAKEMAN: Billions and billions of dollars.

PHILLIP: No. The United States, yes, has given Ukraine a lot of money. He has thanked the United States on numerous occasions. He has come to this country to thank the United States. J.D. Vance has not ever voted for that aid. So, who is he thanking exactly? Donald Trump also not responsible.

BLAKEMAN: Well, how about you and me? It’s our taxpayer dollars.

JENNINGS: That’s not entirely true, actually. Donald Trump gave Ukraine Javelins.

PHILLIP: Donald Trump gave Ukraine Javelins.

JENNINGS: And Obama gave them blankets.

PHILLIP: I get it. I get it. I get the talking point.

JENNINGS: I mean, you can denigrate it, but it’s true.

PHILLIP: I get the talking point, but what I’m talking about is support for Ukraine in this conflict. J.D. Vance and Donald Trump have both been — I would say Trump has been skeptical. Vance has been outright opposed. So, would you — I mean, do you acknowledge that Zelenskyy has thanked the United States?

JENNINGS: He has on occasion.

PHILLIP: Dozens of occasions.

JENNINGS: But I will also point out that in 2022 in a phone call with Joe Biden, Joe Biden had to scream at him on the phone, according to NBC News, and say, hey, you know, you could be a little more grateful for what we’re doing for you in the United States. He’s a frustrating guy to deal with. On that, we have bipartisan presidential consensus.

PHILLIP: I get that. I get that. But as Karl Rove said, diplomacy is messy privately, and these things happen in every single conflict the United States has been a part of where with our allies, we have disagreements privately. It happened during World War II. It happened with Biden. The difference is that this played out publicly on purpose.

JENNINGS: Right. And why go to the Oval Office in a language you don’t really speak that well without an interpreter and pick a fight with the president, vice president of the United States, regardless if you don’t like what they had to say? Is there some reason he couldn’t just sit there and say, thank you so much. Where’s the papers? Where’s the salmon? That’s all he had to do and he literally couldn’t do it.

JOHN AVLON: Scott, look, I mean, we just all saw the clip. We’ve all seen the clip. This was not Zelenskyy like, you know, insulting. This was Vance inserting himself and punching back.

JENNINGS: Okay. Why don’t you just say, thank you, Mr. Vice President, let’s discuss it over lunch.

AVLON: But let’s take a bigger step back. Vance accuses him of propaganda tours, propaganda tours. He’s talking about, you know, you’re conscripting people to go to the front. Vladimir Putin has been doing that, you know, for years in the war too. The point is that, you know, J. D. Vance has always said he doesn’t give a damn about Ukraine. He’s never supported it. But the problem in this context is this isn’t even, you know, sort of noninterventionist stuff. This is siding with Russia, the aggressor in a war, something we have never done.

JENNINGS: We’re not siding with Russia. We’re not siding with a peace deal.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.