Chris Cuomo Rips Into Scott Jennings Over CNN Antics: ‘What a Punk!’

Chris Cuomo didn’t hold back against his former CNN colleague Scott Jennings on Tuesday (May 5), calling out the conservative commentator for his recent F-bomb breakdown on CNN NewsNight.

On last Thursday’s (April 30) episode of CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Jennings clashed with MeidasTouch commentator Adam Mockler over President Donald Trump‘s war with Iran. The debate became heated as Mockler pressed Jennings to name “one political concession” the U.S. had received from Iran.

“We all know that Scott Jennings is more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with letters ‘I-r-a’ that we are currently failing, that is going to put us trillions and trillions of dollars more in debt,” Mockler said. “I was only a few years old while you were in the administration defending prior endless wars. Now this war is failing.”

Jennings, a former White House staffer in the George W. Bush administration, asked if Mockler had “the attention span of a gnat,” while the 23-year-old progressive continued to press for an answer. When Mockler gestured with his hands to emphasize his point, Jennings snapped, shouting, “Get your f****** hand out of my face!”

Cuomo referred to Jennings as “CNN’s resident MAGA-lomaniac” before airing a clip of the moment. “Now, when this happened, I asked, what 48-year-old man talks to a kid 25 years younger than him like that?” he added. “One who’s got nothing else.”

The NewsNation anchor continued, “When one who did work for the Bush administration that sold us the BS about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you’d think he’d have some type of shame. But there’s no shame in the game, and he knows how to play the rage bait game.”

Cuomo then called out the hypocrisy, airing a clip from a 2024 episode of NewsNight in which Jennings pointed his finger in the face of academic Michael Eric Dyson during a heated debate.

“What a punk!” Cuomo said. “He did the same thing. You see what I’m saying? What’s different is Professor Michael Eric Dyson, the man on your screen, looking at him with contempt. Why? He handled it differently because he has a better handle on adulting than Jennings, but also because he had the facts and the law on his side.”

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Cuomo went on to say that he “doesn’t want bad things” to happen to Jennings, nor does he want him fired. “This is all just a distraction from his true deficiency,” he added. “He can’t justify what’s happening in Iran beyond ‘the regime sucks’.”

Mockler himself appeared on Cuomo’s show, where he was asked whether he thought Jennings’ reaction was “performative” or genuine. “No, that was a genuine, serious moment,” Mockler said.

He added, “When it comes to Scott Jennings, I sat with him at this same table, that same table week after week after week and then listen to him lie about the timelines of the war, not bound to any sort of facts or even decorum. He’s a big a**hole on that show. I’m gonna say it. He’s the one who is constantly smug and condescending. That’s his entire bit. So, for this to blow up because I give him the energy that he gives other people just blows my mind.”

Cuomo, Weeknights, 8/7 c, NewsNation