Articles by Marco Margaritoff

Politics

Scott Jennings Stuns CNN Panel With Claim About Trump, Epstein: 'We Would Already Know'

Scott Jennings on Tuesday made the remarkable claim that if President Donald Trump had any involvement in the crimes of late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the public “would already know it” — despite a trove of classified documents in the matter still awaiting release. The CNN panel discussion on “NewsNight with Abby Phillip” quickly turned contentious. “I think he’s sick of being accused by Democrats and a lot of people in the media of having had something to do with Epstein when he had nothing to do with Epstein,” said Jennings at the top of the show. “There’s not a shred of evidence he ever did anything wrong.” Fellow panelist and film producer Franklin Leonard challenged the logic behind that notion, as many files have clearly not yet been released. Leonard said he’d like to see them before absolving Trump ― whom Epstein once called his “closest friend” ― of potential wrongdoing. “You think after 10 years of public life, you wouldn’t know it already?” Jennings asked, prompting Leonard to swiftly note: “No, I don’t — that’s exactly the point.” Jennings argued that the focus on Trump is “an I.Q. test,” urging Leonard not to “fail it.” Phillip noted that a current lack of confirmed evidence about Trump’s potential criminal involvement does not mean “nothing has happened.” Jennings doubled down and returned his focus to Leonard, however, who had merely said he’d like to see the evidence. “My question directly to him is, if you think after 10 years, three presidential campaigns and Democrats unleashing holy hell on him, you wouldn’t know about—” Jennings reiterated, before Phillip interrupted to demand: “Scott, answer your own question.” The other panelists ultimately chimed in to deliver their own takes before Jennings could reply. Pollster and political researcher Joshua Doss eventually noted Jennings was “calling into question this Black man’s intelligence with the I.Q. test” dig at Leonard. Jennings pushed back, calling it “ridiculous.” He later reiterated his stance that Trump is innocent in regard to Epstein, who infamously wrote in recently released emails that Trump “knew about the girls” he was abusing — and that the president once “spent hours at my house” with one of the victims. “Look, here’s what I think has been going on for 10 years,” said Jennings. “If there was a shred of anything to know about Donald Trump, we would already know it.” A unanimous consent vote Tuesday in the Senate has sent legislation for the new Epstein Transparency Act to Trump’s desk in bipartisan hopes for his signature.