A CNN anchor politely interjected as a Republican strategist bemoaned that Democrats are pre-writing "dystopian fan fiction" about President-elect Donald Trump's incoming pick to lead the FBI.
Trump nominated Kash Patel to be his next FBI director. Patel has vowed to “come after” the media and the so-called "deep state."
"We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you," he said on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast.
Patel has also threatened legal action against former White House colleague Olivia Troye, demanding she retract defamatory statements after she called him a "delusional liar."
Patel's statements became the topic of conversation Friday night on CNN's "The Source," with anchor Kaitlan Collins pointing to an interview in The Bulwark with Bannon, where Bannon said Patel is serious about investigating people listed in his book, "Government Gangsters."
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GOP strategist Scott Jennings responded by noting Patel hasn't been confirmed yet — he still faces a Senate hearing where inquiring lawmakers on both sides can ask him questions about his past statements.
Jennings then said he could only go on what Trump has said, since "he's the boss."
"And what he's said publically in his "Meet the Press" interview on NBC was that he's not going to direct anybody to go after his political enemies, and in fact it sounded to me in his interview like he was very much focused on the future, not him going back into the past," said Jennings.
Collins said she interpreted the "Meet the Press" interview differently. While Trump acknowledged his pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, and Patel are in charge of any such investigations, if anyone "did something that's reasonable to investigate" that "should happen."
Former Obama official Van Jones noted Patel is coming into the office with a "published list" and called it "very troubling."
But Jennings insisted the concerns against Patel are overblown — and pushed back that the Biden administration investigated Trump.
"That's not a hypothetical. It happened," he said.
Collins quickly interjected, noting the same administration also investigated Hunter Biden.
"Come on," she said, rolling her eyes.
Jennings continued, though, and said he found the raid on Trump's home "completely out of line" and said the Biden administration going after Trump was a "dramatic overreach."
In returning to Patel, Jennings insisted the FBI nominee hasn't been confirmed yet, and jabbed Democrats for what he called "writing some dystopian fan fiction into the future."
Collins, clearly fed up, interjected a second time.
"Scott — wait, hold on. This is not a hypothetical because he actually did write this in his book," she said. "And so I'm asking how you would feel if it was not a Republican president and someone that he had nominated."
Jennings, now raising his voice slightly, exclaimed: "I'm telling you how I did feel when it was a Democratic president who raided the former president's house! And that night I felt pretty bad about it!"
Watch the back-and-forth below or at this link.
