Scott Jennings has had a banner week taking down liberals and their talking points on CNN, as we've been covering. During a particularly whiny edition of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip" from Wednesday night, Jennings had to deal with the likes of Brian Stelter and Ana Navarro. At one point, Stelter and Jennings got into it over the lack of transparency from former President Joe Biden compared to President Donald Trump, who has already taken a tremendous amount of questions less than a month into his second term.
Earlier in the segment, other panelists had been discussing and lamenting how the White House has not allowed the Associated Press into the briefing room, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has reminded is a "privilege," because they will not comply with referring to the "Gulf of America" by its new name, and still insist it's the "Gulf of Mexico." Stelter also has posted plenty about this to his X account.
As Sarah Matthews, the former Deputy White House Press Secretary, tried to provide Jennings with what she thought was a hypothetical, about the Biden administration barring conservative media outlets--which it has done--she wouldn't even let Jennings respond before continuing to hammer her point.
When he could get a word in edgewise, Jennings issued a crucial reminder about how poorly the Biden administration treated the press, which went ignored as the panelists focused on the Trump administration barring the AP over "Gulf of America" language and how the outlet should sue.
"Listen, these things are not, in any way, shape or form, related, A," Jennings responded, before he issued critical reminders about the Biden administration, which stands in stark contrast. "B, the Biden administration treated the press as poorly as any president has ever treated them, gave them less access, answered no questions, no transparency at any given time. Donald Trump's answered more questions in three weeks than Joe Biden answered in four years. Elon Musk answered more than he did," he added, referring to how Trump and Musk spoke from the Oval Office on Tuesday.
"That's not true," Stelter jumped in to insist, as he went on to speak to certain answers before Jennings jumped on to remind him how nonsensical his response was. "Come on, Brian. This administration is giving the most access to the press they could possibly want," he countered.
As fitting a point as it was, and how it was in response to Matthews trying to present a hypothetical that had actually taken place, Phillip also jumped in to claim such discussion was "changing the subject, and we're not changing the subject."
CNN's Brian Stelter huffs, "that's not true" when Scott Jennings lets the panel know that Donald Trump answered more press questions in 3 weeks than Joe Biden did for his entire quadrennium. pic.twitter.com/Nku2nUf5wW
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 13, 2025
Although he didn't further address Jennings' point during the segment, Stelter still took to X to double down. He too shared MRC's Jorge Bonilla's clip of that moment in the segment.
"Because it's not possible. Obviously Biden didn't hold nearly as many Q&As as Trump does. But over the course of 4 years, Biden fielded thousands of questions. It's not possible for Trump to have fielded thousands of Q's in 3 weeks," he posted, trying to justify Biden.
Because it's not possible. Obviously Biden didn't hold nearly as many Q&As as Trump does. But over the course of 4 years, Biden fielded thousands of questions. It's not possible for Trump to have fielded thousands of Q's in 3 weeks https://t.co/v1c3MyVWX7
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 13, 2025
Biden did not field thousands of questions. Most public statements were followed by not taking any questions at all. In his final year in office, he didn’t hold *one* solo press conference. In 2023, he held just three. What a ridiculous argument. https://t.co/tD9EfXexZ9
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) February 13, 2025
Such a claim from Stelter sounds like it's come from the Biden White House. Indeed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was known for gaslighting the American people and the press about Biden's transparency, and did in fact claim that Biden took shouted questions, and that it was even "unprecedented" how many he took. A fact-check from Mia showed that's not quite the case. She herself was a particularly incompetent White House staffer and was less than forthcoming about Biden's health. There was also Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, another gaslighter, who complained about how the press dared to question Biden's obviously failing mental faculties.
Then there's how Biden was particularly lacking when it comes to the press conferences he held, as even The Hill and the AP had taken notice of.
This isn't the only bizarre post that Stelter has put out there about Biden versus Trump's presidency. On Sunday, when he posted extensively about Trump's presence at the Super Bowl, he also added a post for users to "think about" when it comes to how "[a] year ago you could go days without seeing or thinking about Joe Biden. Now you’re lucky if you can go hours without thinking about President Trump. He’s inescapable. And that’s just how he likes it."
The full post from Stelter was part of a thread on X, with the initial post receiving 1,500 replies.
A lot of us asked why the media went days without seeing or thinking about Joe Biden, actually. pic.twitter.com/7wf826CCES
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 10, 2025
Think about it: A year ago you could go days without seeing or thinking about Joe Biden. Now you’re lucky if you can go hours without thinking about President Trump. He’s inescapable. And that’s just how he likes it. Today: The Super Bowl is also the Trump Bowl 🧵
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 9, 2025
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