CNN Conservative commentator Scott Jennings has become an outspoken defender of Donald Trump in recent years, but even he disagrees with the president’s take on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
CNN Tuesday (January 6) edition Kaitlan Collins SourceJennings was asked about the White House’s new website page on January 6, which reframed the Capitol attack as a protest by “patriotic Americans” who were “unfairly targeted.”
Collins specifically drew Jennings’ attention to a passage about the Capitol Police on the website, which read: “Capitol police violently fired tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rubber munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters, injuring many and intentionally inflaming tensions.”
“That’s blaming the police for what happened that day, isn’t it, Scott?” Collins asked, according to Mediat.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what you can read,” Jennings responded, before admitting that his view of what happened that day was “somewhat different” than the president’s. However, he also noted that he “doesn’t view it as a national holiday the way Democrats do.”
“It’s a bad day, but it’s not a day I look forward to commemorating every year,” he continued. “This is a bad day, it should never happen again, and the president has a point of view on this, and he has a point of view on his message that he has never backed down from, and the American people candidly adjudicate these issues in the 2024 election while he is the current president.”
Jennings previously called the January 6 attack on the Capitol an act of “insurrection” and “terrorism” in a column he wrote for CNN on January 6, 2021.
“This is effectively an insurrection,” Jennings wrote at the time, noting that “every Republican” should condemn it. “The U.S. military has yet to seize a seat in our government. This is a failure of leadership by the Commander-in-Chief.”
He continued, “President Donald Trump started this insurrection with his lies and conspiracy theories about the election process. It was not stolen, but this insanity was fomented by the president and his top advisers over the past several months.”
Jennings went on to write that he was “ashamed and embarrassed” for his country and “any Republicans who failed to condemn this disgraceful behavior.”
The MAGA expert has toned down her feelings toward Trump in recent years, often appearing on CNN to support the president’s views. abby philip newsnightof which he is a permanent panel member. He even wrote a book about Trump’s return to the White House, which Trump promoted on social media last month.
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