Scott Jennings got called out by his fellow panelists on the Wednesday night edition of CNN’s “NewsNight” for refusing to call out President Trump’s misogynistic remarks the same way he has Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) controversial comment this past weekend about White House aide Natalie Harp.
During a Sunday rally, Ossoff lumped Harp, who has served as President Trump’s executive assistant since 2025, into a screed about the president. “He golfs and trades stocks,” Ossoff said of Trump. “He doesn’t want to do the job; he wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie to their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
Ossoff has come under fire from prominent voices from both the Left and the Right for his comment about Harp. During his “NewsNight” appearance, Jennings, who is rumored to be a frontrunner to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House Press Secretary, joined in that pile-on Wednesday.
“I expect Ossoff to criticize Donald Trump. I expect every Democrat running for president to criticize Trump,” Jennings said. “What I thought was appalling about this is that Harp is not a public figure. She’s not a household name. Nobody knows who she is. And when he injected her into this, he knew what he was doing, which is punching down on someone who’s effectively defenseless.”
Jennings was quickly blitzed by his fellow “NewsNight” panelists, including Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, who said that those upset about Ossoff’s comments need to hold Trump to the same standard.
“If you’re going to take that position, you better also be criticizing the way Donald Trump talks about women,” Abrams argued. “So, I’m happy for someone to say, ‘Look, I think it was inappropriate. I think it was sexist.’ But you better also be saying that about Donald Trump, if I’m even going to take you seriously.”
CNN plays a montage of Trump attacking various women in response to Jennings attacking Ossoff over Natalie Harp
Phillip: Are you going to be outraged over that?
Jennings: pic.twitter.com/rh35mRGRQE
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2026
In response to Jennings’ remark that Ossoff was “punching down” on a woman, Abrams asked, “Doesn’t Donald Trump do that all the time?” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) joined in, remarking that Trump has broken all traditional rules of public decorum.
“There’s no rules anymore. Donald Trump broke all of those,” Moskowitz said. “Robert Reiner dies, Donald Trump cheers his death. There are not rules anymore. You might not like it. Donald Trump is the king of trolls. What I find amazing is that the best trolls can’t take incoming. I don’t care who they are.”
“Is she a troll?” Jennings asked of Harp, to which Moskowitz replied, “No, but Trump is.”
“But he didn’t insult Trump. He insulted a female who can’t defend herself,” Jennings argued. “It’s not the right and it’s not Trump. It’s a single, defenseless woman.” Moskowitz responded, noting, “[CNN’s] Kaitlan Collins asks a real question and Trump demeans her every single solitary day.”
To back up Moskowitz’s point, “NewsNight” host Abby Phillip rolled a highlight reel of Trump publicly demeaning multiple prominent women, including Collins, Rosie O’Donnell and Hillary Clinton. Afterward, Phillip asked Jennings if he is willing to express the same outrage over Trump’s comments that he did for Ossoff’s remark.
“I do not believe in demeaning women in any way,” Jennings said, prompting Democratic operative Keith Boykin to cut in, “Not answering the question. Are you outraged or not about that?” While Jennings tried to respond by explaining the “issue I have with this,” Boykin refused to let him off the hook.
“You are not answering the question! You’re avoiding the question again,” Boykin remarked. As Boykin continued to hammer him, Jennings turned to camera and told viewers, “By the way, you have no idea how loud this is.”
“You have no idea how dishonest you are,” Boykin countered. You can watch the contentious clip yourself in the video above.
