Conservative CNN correspondent Scott Jennings was challenged to contact Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on air Friday, the latest in a series of presses for Jennings to disclose information about the senator’s health status.
“Scott, why don’t you pull out your phone and ask Mitch McConnell how he feels about it? Ask him. I want to know,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and senior advisor for Kamala Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign. Nellis was seated next to Jennings, giving him a nudge during the comment.
The exchange came on Friday’s broadcast of “NewsNight,” CNN’s roundtable discussion series hosted by Abby Phillip. Nellis, Jennings and the rest of the group had been discussing Democratic politicians’ response to a Sept. 3 report from the Wall Street Journal, alleging that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) “shows little interest in the work of a Senator” and highlighting him as a potential party defect for the GOP to monitor.
“My advice to anyone who gets elected to the U.S. Congress or the Senate is, the number one thing you should spend your time on? Tending to your constituents, the people,” Jennings said on Fetterman.
Nellis’ dig is only the most recent instance of Jennings, a former McConnell aide, being pressed about the senator’s health status. McConnell has been absent from Congress for nearly three months after being hospitalized on June 14; a statement from the senator’s office later revealed that the 84-year-old had taken “a fall” and contracted a “mild case of pneumonia” while receiving care.
In July, Jennings was bluntly pressed by Kasie Hunt to call McConnell live on-air, asking him, “Could we get him on the phone now?” Jennings said that he had spoken with McConnell earlier and that the senator “sounded well enough to call me.”
Speaking with Hunt again on Wednesday, Jennings cast doubt on McConnell’s planned Sept. 14 return to the Senate floor.
“I know he wants to go back to work, and I know he wants to finish his term, and it‘s his intention to do so. But there‘s two weeks between now when the Senate goes back,” Jennings said. “The man‘s a fighter. Overcoming polio proves that, and so my thoughts and prayers are with him. I hope he comes back to work. And there‘s some big, big issues coming up later this fall.”
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