When it comes to Signalgate, Democrats and the mainstream media have talked the issue to death, giving CNN's conservative commentator Scott Jennings plenty of opportunities to discuss the matter. A consistent theme from Jennings has been to remind the liberal commentators that he's not going to take lectures on national security from those who supported or even worked for such a failing administration as the Biden-Harris one.
The issue of Signlgate was discussed ad nauseam on the Sunday shows, including CNN's "State of the Union," where Jennings was part of the panel discussion. He even went up against the former spokesperson for the Pentagon, Chris Meagher, who criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, despite the issues from his boss, then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Without evidence, Meagher claimed that the Trump administration is "losing the trust of the troops," as he went on to remind that "the business of the Department of Defense is very dangerous." He also aptly added that "every single day, they're dealing with life-and-death issues. It's risky and it's dangerous. And so you need our leadership, our most senior leadership at the Pentagon, our most senior leadership in the United States government, to take steps to mitigate that risk, to take steps to keep our troops safe."
While one could say the very same thing about Austin going AWOL for cancer treatments without people knowing, Meagher instead went after Hegseth. "Pete Hegseth, he did the opposite. He put classified, sensitive material about an operation hours before that operation took place into an unclassified setting, which is one of the biggest no-no's at the Department of Defense. If somebody like me did that, I'd be out on my--out on the sidewalk," he went on to say.
When it was Jennings' turn to speak, he pointed to Signlgate as "a mistake" and "a teachable moment," expressing his confidence that "I have no doubt they won't do it again." He also aptly went after the leftist narrative, though.
"And it's also possible to look at, if you're trying to assess, what should we do about it, I hear Democrats arguing, 'Well, should we fire Pete Hegseth, we should fire the national security adviser,'" he reminded when it comes to the claims Democrats are laughably making.
"The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration, when, after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died, no accountability was meted out. After the drone strike that vaporized those poor kids and that family, no accountability. After the secretary of defense went AWOL, no accountability," Jennings continued. "So if you're arguing today that we should get rid of Pete Hegseth over a small mistake regarding communications, even while he was expertly executing this military operation against the Houthi rebels, which also the Biden administration didn't take up... I don't have a lot of time for that argument today. And neither does most Republicans."
What Democrats tend to forget when focusing on the "small mistake involving communications" and scapegoating Hegseth is that the mission was a success. This is in strong contrast to the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the Houthis, with President Joe Biden even declassifying them as terrorists.
Meagher just continued to go after Hegseth further, claiming he's "taken no accountability." At Jennings' mention, and it may have been only because of Jennings' mention, Meagher also addressed and defended Austin. "You mentioned Secretary Austin. He stood at the podium for an hour and took accountability. He asked for a 30-day review of the hospitalization. He asked for an inspector general," he offered, leading to crosstalk from the panel.
As Jennings managed to get in there as another reminder, Democrats did not call for Austin's resignation.
While state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-MI) praised Jennings for referring to the situation as "a mistake," she then went on to claim nobody from the administration has, even as Jennings repeatedly mentioned that President Donald Trump did. "We need leadership. We need leaders who step up who own their mistakes," she instead claimed as she spoke over him.
McMorrow went up to bring up unrelated concerns against the Trump administration, with host Dana Bash looking to move on.
With such an exchange, it's no wonder Jennings posted for such people to "maybe take a seat..."
Don't have time for lectures from Dems who looked the other way on Lloyd Austin's disastrous tenure at the Pentagon. If you didn't call for his firing over Afghanistan, the disastrous drone strike, or his going AWOL, maybe take a seat on Hegseth. https://t.co/q58mp4sdem
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) March 30, 2025
Jennings also had strong words for Neera Tanden in a particularly memorable segment on the network late last week. When Tanden did not even have the votes to be confirmed by a Democratic Senate to serve as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, she was selected to serve as then President Joe Biden's staff secretary and senior advisor. She may have even been the staff member behind Biden's autopen signature being used for the particularly high amount of pardons issued at the end of his term.
Last Friday, Jennings also went up against CNN contributor Lula Garcia-Navarro, who unbelievably posed national security concerns taking place under a Democratic administration as a hypothetical, as she ranted about Signalgate being "an enormous breach."
"Accountability is not something that is either Democrat or Republican. Accountability is actually something that normally happens in a well-functioning administration. This isn't, you know, cowboys and Indians and calling for scalps. This is actually what most people would think was, if someone has behaved in a way that puts American lives at risk, they should be held accountable for it," she claimed during a back-and-forth.
Jennings repeatedly reminded Garcia-Navarro that she didn't have to think of hypotheticals, though she wouldn't hear it and repeatedly spoke over him, to host Laura Coates' consternation.
"You don't have to make up hypotheticals, Lulu, about if this happened in a Democratic administration. Let me take you back in time," he offered, reminding her about Afghanistan and also Austin's failures. "In a Democratic administration, the secretary of defense oversaw a disastrous military operation in which 13 servicemen died in Afghanistan. Then to try to make up for it, they vaporized like seven children in a drone strike. Then later, the secretary of defense went AWOL and didn't even tell the commander-in- chief."
When they say “if this happened under a Democrat…” here’s what you do. https://t.co/pXNAUGBt40
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) March 29, 2025
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