A heated verbal brawl took place on “CNN Newsnight” Thursday as panelists duked it out over America’s involvement in launching Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth testified before Congress Wednesday and Thursday about the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request, with Hegseth claiming that President Donald Trump didn’t have to seek authorization for using force in Iran after 60 days due to a ceasefire. After failed Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh claimed the United States was the aggressor, the panel began a heated debate over U.S. involvement in Iran.
WATCH:
“Did all of U.S. history exist before the last eight weeks to you, or just eight weeks? I mean, honestly, they have been at war with us for 47 years,” Salem Radio host Scott Jennings said, prompting liberal content creator Adam Mockler to respond with, “We all know that Scott Jennings is more than happy to defend a war with a country that starts with the letter IRA, that we are currently failing, that is going to put us trillions and trillions of dollars more in debt. I was only a few years old while you were in the administration defending prior endless wars. Now, this war is failing.”
“Eight weeks is endless to you?” Jennings asked, starting a back-and-forth with Mockler, who responded, “Okay. You said it was going to be six weeks.”
Jennings fired back with a comment about the left-wing influencer’s attention span, which led to Mockler pointing at Jennings while demanding that the former George W. Bush administration official name a “political concession” the Trump administration had secured. Tensions had been building since Jennings cracked that Mockler was “hyper” due to it being after his “bedtime.”
“Get your hand out of my fucking face!” Jennings snapped, leading host Abby Phillip to step in with, “Hey, whoa!”
“Honestly, I’m not going to have this guy’s hand in my face. Honestly,” Jennings replied, with Phillip saying, “No, everybody calm down, okay? We’re having a debate. You can respond to the points that he’s making.”
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera joked that the clash between Jennings and Mockler reminded him of a brawl involving skinheads that took place during a 1988 episode of his daytime talk show.
Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent resigned from the administration in March over the Iran war, stating that the war began “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
The Trump administration claimed Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S., though they have not specified what the threat was. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. preemptively launched strikes because Israel’s planned attack on Iran could have potentially caused American casualties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials convinced Trump to launch strikes against Israel during their visit to the White House on Feb. 11, The New York Times reported on April 7. Several U.S. cabinet officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, described their reasoning for striking Iran as “farcical” and voiced skepticism about Israel’s plan for regime change.
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