MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Rips Into Scott Jennings & ‘Absurdly Degraded’ CNN

Lawrence O’Donnell didn’t hold back on The Last Word as he slammed CNN for allowing conservative commentator Scott Jennings “to lie about Donald Trump.”

The long-time MSNBC anchor took aim on Monday’s (October 27) show at Mark Thompson, the British–American media executive who has served as CNN’s CEO since 2023. O’Donnell called Thompson the “Trump-supporting owner and operator of CNN” who “thinks paying Scott Jennings to lie about Donald Trump is money very well spent.”

O’Donnell argued that Jennings “was not always a rabid, lying Trump supporter,” pointing to how he’d previously criticize some of the President’s more “extreme” positions. “[But he] figured out where the money is and how he could get his own podcast and decided to become the JD Vance of CNN,” the host added.

Jennings, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and advisor to Senator Mitch McConnell, has been an on-air contributor for CNN since 2017, frequently appearing on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip. He recently revealed he allowed Trump to choose the cover for his new book, A Revolution of Common Sense.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell rants about Scott Jennings, CNN for paying a Republican amongst Democrats pic.twitter.com/FREwHzQLsN

— Jimmy Simmons (@ArticulateTHGHT) October 28, 2025

O’Donnell then turned his attention to a recent interview Thompson gave with Mediaite, where he compared Jennings to the Three Musketeers hero D’Artagnan.

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“Scott’s like D’Artagnan, he’s got his sword out and he’s got about four Democrats against him, but he spiked them all off,” Thompson told the outlet. “And it makes for not just good television, but also for, in some ways, a slightly deeper testing of the ideas all the way around that table.”

O’Donnell scoffed at the idea of Jennings making for “good television,” calling Thompson’s statement the “single goofiest thing ever said by anyone in charge of CNN.”

“Here’s how bad that television is that they make over there. The show that Scott Jennings frequents the most is on opposite this program. And that show on a good night gets half of the audience of this show,” he continued, referencing CNN NewsNight.

O’Donnell added, “This program usually has an audience triple the size of the terrible, terrible television that Scott Jennings is delivering on the absurdly degraded version of CNN, presided over by the man who thinks lying for Donald Trump on TV is an honorable pursuit and should be paid for by CNN.”

No, Lawrence, I do not have time to save your show. https://t.co/IHitdjp57O

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 28, 2025

Jennings later responded to O’Donnell’s comments on X, sharing a clip of the segment and writing, “No, Lawrence, I do not have time to save your show.”

O’Donnell’s criticisms come amid reports that new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss met with Jennings to discuss him potentially moving to the Tiffany Network.