‘In Which Case Did People Die?!!’ CNN Explodes as Scott Jennings and NYT Reporter Go to War Over SignalGate

A fight between Republican CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings and New York Times reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro went off the rails on Laura Coates Live this week as the panel attempted to discuss the so-called SignalGate scandal and the future of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

After showing some footage from an Indiana Republican’s town hall event that itself went off the rails on Friday, host Laura Coates talked first with Jennings about whether President Donald Trump and the White House are misreading how big a deal the story is in the Republican base. Jennings was skeptical that the town hall represented anything other than “unhinged Democrats” looking for “any Republican” to yell at.

Once he’d made that point, Jennings went on to say that he believes the White House and Trump have some justification for being unhappy with the media’s coverage of the situation – and that nobody’s head should roll, especially Hegseth or national security adviser Mike Waltz.

“I don’t believe they should give a scalp here. I really don’t,” Jennings said. “I don’t think they should give in to the mob because you know what? If I’ve learned one thing about the mob, it’s never enough. If they fired Hegseth, they’d ask for Waltz. If they fired Waltz, they’d ask for Hegseth. It will not be enough.”

After Jennings called it a “teachable moment,” Garcia-Navarro weighed in and called him out over the comments.

“Scott, Scott, if this happened in a Democratic administration,” she said, “this would have been absolutely, you would have been the first person calling for quote, unquote ‘scalps.’ This was an enormous breach.”

The conversation devolved quickly after that, as the two battled over whether President Joe Biden had blood on his hands, whether it’s the Democrats or the Republicans being hypocritical right now, and generally just shouting at each other as Coates repeatedly tried to restore order.

The fight ended without anyone really seeing eye-to-eye.

JENNINGS: I do believe the White House had, and I think the president has, some right to be unhappy about what happened because he made a righteous decision and the military carried out his orders — ruthlessly, efficiently. We did what we’re supposed to do here. You know, it was a good operation and it’s totally been overshadowed by this communications snafu.

But I don’t believe they should give a scalp here. I really don’t. I don’t think they should give in to the mob because you know what? If I’ve learned one thing about the mob, it’s never enough. If they fired Hegseth, they’d ask for Waltz. If they fired Waltz, they’d ask for Hegseth. It will not be enough. And I — I think they will weather this storm and move on. It is a teachable moment. And learn from it.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Scott. Scott, if this happened in a Democratic administration —

COATES: Lulu?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: — this would have been absolutely, you would have been the first person calling for quote, unquote”scalps.” This was an enormous breach —

JENNINGS: I’ll — I’ll answer your question if you like because —

GARCIA-NAVARRO: — of security? And this was, frankly, to anyone looking at this, whether a Democrat or a Republican —

JENNINGS: — because in a Democratic administration, the Secretary of Defense went AWOL and killed 13 American soldiers —

COATES: Hold on, Scott. Hold on, Scott. Hold on. Wait. Hold on a second. Scott, excuse me. Scott, if you’d like to make —

JENNINGS: — And not a single person called for him to go down!

COATES: Scott, excuse me. Scott, if you’d like to make

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Scott, [inaudible]-ing me isn’t going to help you make a better point.

COATES: Hold on a second. Everyone stop talking. This isn’t — I think everyone has — has misconstrued the title of this show. I’d like to hear what you both have to say, but our audience wants to hear from both of you separately, not on top of it. Scott, you had a point to make. You made it. Lulu, I invite you to respond to what you wanted to say.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Thank you. All I would like to say is that, you know, if this was a Democrat or a Democratic administration who had foolishly, unconscionably created a group chat to have discussion about a military operation that was top secret. I think, Scott, you would have been the first person to call for those people’s resignation.

Accountability is not something that is either Democrat or Republican. Accountability is actually something that normally happens in a well-functioning administration. This isn’t, you know, cowboys and Indians and calling for scalps. This is actually what most people would think was, if someone has behaved in a way that puts American lives at risk, they should be held accountable for it.

COATES: Scott, what’s your response?

JENNINGS: Laura, may I — since she — since she addressed me, since — I’ll answer it.

COATES: Please.

JENNINGS: In a Democratic — you don’t have to make up hypotheticals, Lulu, about if this happened in a Democratic administration. Let me take you back in time. In a Democratic administration, the Secretary of Defense oversaw a disastrous military operation in which 13 servicemen died in Afghanistan. Then to try to make up for it, they vaporized like seven children in a drone strike. Then later, the Secretary of Defense went AWOL and didn’t even tell the Commander-in-Chief.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But this is a completely different thing that you’re–

JENNINGS: You don’t have to come up with a hypothetical, Lulu, because —

GARCIA-NAVARRO: These are two different things that you’re discussing.

JENNINGS: — the bar apparently is very high, very high for dismissing the Secretary of Defense.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And I can take you back in time, Scott, and I can talk about the Iraq War —

COATES: I don’t want your words to fall on ears that cannot hear you. Lulu, what is your reaction?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: My reaction is it’s — it’s not the same thing. I can take you back in time and talk about the Iraq war. There are different things that, and people make–

JENNINGS: You’re right. People died. People died in the last case and not in this case.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: People make mistakes. This was using an unsecure method of discussion by the top members of this administration to discuss top secret — a top secret and very important —

JENNINGS: Who died? In which case did people die?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: — a military operation on Signal! You see? —

COATES: I would like to hear her finish her point, Scott. Lulu, I heard the end of your point.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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