CNN Host Rips MAGA Panelist With Blunt Reminder After Dem Rep's Arrest

On Monday night's episode of CNN's panel discussion program NewsNight, moderator Abby Phillip led a group that included conservative pundits Scott Jennings and Joe Borelli alongside liberal commentators Cornel West and Julie Roginsky.

One topic of discussion was the decision by the Trump administration—through former Trump attorney and current acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba—to charge New Jersey Democratic Representative LaMonica McIver with "assaulting a federal agent."

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was on NewsNight to defend Representative McIver who was present on May 9 when Mayor Baraka and New Jersey Democratic Representatives Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman were arrested as they performed an oversight visit at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.

The Justice Department dropped charges against Mayor Baraka, but announced charges against Representative McIver—which they justified with a clip from a bodycam—claiming the New Jersey Democrat assaulted two federal agents as she tried to block the arrest of Mayor Baraka.

On NewsNight, conservative panelists claimed the mayor and federal officials had no right to access the ICE facility, calling their visit trespassing. Liberal panelists brought up federal law and the facility's agreement with the city that clearly stated otherwise.

As the debate raged, MAGA minion Scott Jennings proclaimed:

"I mean, the videos are pretty clear, are they not? I mean, she’s shoving—elbows, some punches—I mean, this is violent activity against law enforcement, is it not?"

When Mayor Baraka countered that all parties were jostled by the crush of a gathered crowd, but he saw no deliberate assault, Jennings quipped:

"Would a regular person, if they came and did that to a federal officer, get away with it?"

Phillip provided an answer to Jennings jab, saying:

"They might get pardoned."

Her clear reference to the far more violent and destructive assaults by supporters of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump, documented by hours of clear videos, at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, drew laughter from the other panelists.

Jennings was all out of clever comebacks.

You can see the moment here:

People were unsurprised by Jennings' hypocrisy and self own.

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In addition to Jennings, Borelli also tried to justify the arrest of not only Representative McIver, but also Mayor Baraka and Representatives Menendez and Watson Coleman.

He claimed the trespassing charges were valid because former Florida MAGA Republican Representative Matt Gaetz and Georgia MAGA minion Marjorie Taylor Greene were denied access to a federal prison facility to meet with January 6 insurrectionists they helped incite to violence and destruction.

Abby Phillip schooled Borelli as well, interrupting him mid rant, saying:

"Hold on! No! We’re talking talking about federal law here. The law explicitly states that Congress people are able to enter ICE facilities at any time, at any time."

"That’s different from a federal prison. It’s different from another detention facility. ICE facilities, in particular, that is what the law says."

The law she referenced was outlined in detail by Colorado Democratic Representative Jason Crow in a letter to Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem and acting head of ICE Patrick Lyons.

Representative Crow wrote:

"Members of Congress possess explicit statutory authority to conduct unannounced oversight visits to facilities operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security."

"This was outlined in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-93), Division D – Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2020, Sec. 532 and re-affirmed in each year since, including Section 527(a) of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118–47), which stipulates:"

"None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent…a Member of Congress…from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens… [nor] to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress… compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification."

"Furthermore, subsection (b) clarifies that nothing in this section requires a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of intent to enter such a facility for oversight purposes."

Perhaps Noem can make copies so all who are as uninformed as Jennings and Borelli can be enlightened.