NewsNation host Chris Cuomo launched a scathing attack on CNN commentator Scott Jennings on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, calling Jennings a “simpering Trump defender” after a contentious segment aired on CNN NewsNight.
The confrontation stemmed from a heated exchange between Jennings, a Parkland school shooting survivor, and Cameron Kasky over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Minnesota. Kasky took issue with Jennings using the term “illegals” to describe people targeted in the operations, particularly given that ICE was targeting American citizens during the raids.
The tension escalated when Jennings asked Kasky how he would enforce his edict about language use. “Your job is predicated on getting increasingly demented,” Kasky said during the segment.
Cuomo, who posted a video response to his X account, questioned whether Jennings was bullying Kasky. Cuomo said people on both sides now use the term “undocumented,” noting that “illegals” seemed “inhuman.”
In his video message directed at Jennings, Cuomo referenced the CNN commentator’s tone toward Kasky and recalled that Jennings previously called Trump the worst thing in the world. Jennings, who is now CNN’s conservative of choice and hosts a right-wing radio show, referred to Trump as an “authoritarian” in March 2016. Jennings has also been associated with the Louisville Courier Journal.
Cuomo used the phrase “FAFO” in his criticism and told Jennings to remember to be a “decent person.” He described Jennings as a “guy with slick to the side hair and slick tongue.”
The backdrop to the dispute involves ICE raids in Minnesota that have provoked mass protests. The operations involved 3,000 federal agents taking to the streets. An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old, intensifying public anger over the enforcement actions.