CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings said Wednesday that Democratic attorneys general attempting to block the nation’s duly elected leaders from effectively operating the federal government is “patently ridiculous.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled against blocking DOGE from seven federal agencies in response to a lawsuit brought by fourteen attorneys general, who alleged that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are acting with “limitless and unchecked power” by conducting mass layoffs and limiting wasteful spending of taxpayers’ dollars. Jennings argued the Democrats’ attempts to have “partisan judges” stop Trump from being transparent about government spending is out of touch with the American people.
“It’s a good decision. It’s amazing to me that Donald Trump has to go to court to fight off attempts to keep the duly elected president and his appointees from having access to the federal government,” Jennings said. “I mean, this is, after all, the people that we elected to run the country and we have to go to court to fight to run the country? It sounds crazy and I think it was the only decision she could make because it’s patently ridiculous when Democratic attorneys general go to partisan judges, or any judges for that matter and try to stop the duly elected government from operating.”
“Number two, this effort is nothing more than an attempt to control the federal bureaucracy and restore some political oversight to the federal government,” Jennings continued. “That is all [DOGE is] trying to do. So ultimately, I think people are happy with it and I think they’re finding some things that need to be uncovered. And the more they’re transparent about that and the more they put that information out for the American people, the more popular it’s going to be become.”
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Chutkan ruled on Tuesday that she could not grant the plaintiffs’ requests because there is no evidence that DOGE caused “imminent, irreparable harm” to the individuals. However, she said the attorneys general had legitimate grounds to express concern about the “unchecked authority” of Musk, who the lawsuit referred to as a “single, unelected individual.”
“In these circumstances, it must be indisputable that this court acts within the bounds of its authority,” Chutkan wrote. “Accordingly, it cannot issue a TRO [temporary restraining order], especially one as wide-ranging as Plaintiffs request, without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm to these Plaintiffs. The current record does not meet that standard.”
DOGE reported Monday that it has saved the federal government an estimated $55 billion by cutting the size of the federal government and laying off hundreds of employees. The agency dismantled the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) on Feb. 3 over its billions of dollars in wasteful spending, including the funding of sex change operations in Guatemala, a Sesame Street show in Iraq and the distribution of over 65 million condoms.
The administration fired four officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following DOGE’s discovery that the agency handed out $59 million to house illegal migrants in luxury hotels across New York City.
During the segment, CNN’s Bakari Sellers argued there is no oversight with DOGE which has led to legal challenges. He also pushed back against Jennings when he labeled Chutkan, who oversaw former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case against Trump, as a “partisan judge.”
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