It didn’t take long for tensions over President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter to boil over Monday night on CNN’s “NewsNight.”
Within the opening minutes of the show, known for bringing in guests with differing views to debate the day’s political news, a longtime Republican strategist’s harsh criticism of the president caused a Democratic social media influencer to go after him, the GOP and the incoming president.
“No Republican is shocked that he is doing this,” GOP insider Scott Jennings said. “What I am shocked at is the duplicity of the president of the United States and his top aides to come together and form this lie and stick to it this entire time when we all knew it was ridiculous. And now the American people are seeing what a disgrace he really is.”
The comments came after Jennings referenced a report earlier in the day suggesting Biden and his top aides met over the summer and decided they would keep the option of a pardon for Hunter on the table.
“They had a meeting, they coordinated the lie, I guess, for political purposes. And now that he's leaving office, he is going back on what he told the American people,” Jennings said. “This isn't simply changing your mind, this is just fulfilling what you always intended to do.”
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But that narrative seemed to rankle Leigh McGowan, a social media influencer who uses the handle PoliticsGirl, who became visibly fed up.
“I think it's incredibly rich to have you say that the people got together, and they were duplicitous, and they created a lie,” McGowan told Jennings. “Honestly, what the other side has been saying for years, what you guys ran on for president is, was multiple lies."
When pressed by CNN’s Abby Phillip on whether Biden saying he wouldn’t issue a pardon for his son earlier in the year was a lie, McGowan doubled down.
“No, I believe the circumstances have changed,” she said. “I think that we now have a president coming into office who's talking about firing squads, who's talking about running people around the country and making sure that everyone who's his enemy is going to be punished.”
McGowan's defense of Biden caused Jennings to become visibly exasperated as looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes at her response.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
