CNN conservative pundit Scott Jennings got absolutely eviscerated on live television this week after he dismissed concerns about the Trump administration’s refusal to release Jeffrey Epstein documents by telling viewers not to “get our knickers in a twist.”
Leigh McGowan, a progressive commentator known online as “PoliticsGirl,” wasn’t having it. “Yeah, let’s not get our knickers in a twist over child rape, ha ha ha,” she fired back on CNN’s “Newsnight.” “Why are you talking like that? It’s insane.”
THE DETAILS: The exchange happened during a discussion about the Justice Department’s failure to comply with the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. It’s been a full month since the law mandated the release of all DOJ documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—and the department has only released a tiny fraction of them.
Jennings, ever the loyal Trump defender, shrugged it off: “Let’s not get our knickers in a twist here. There’s no punishment [for this].”
McGowan unleashed. “The Epstein files is a multinational, multigenerational child and woman sex trafficking ring. So your attitude right now… is just horrifying to me,” she said. “Everything that is in these files—it could bring an entire house down. And if it has to, it has to. If it brings down Democrats, bring them down. If it brings down Republicans, bring them down.”
WHY IT MATTERS: The clip went viral because McGowan said what millions of Americans are thinking: the political elite acts like they’re above the law, and Jennings’ flippant attitude proves it.
“Scott resembles the villain of a melodrama, the quintessential bad guy who is dishonest, corrupt and overconfident,” Carrie Tirado Bramen, a professor at the University at Buffalo, told HuffPost. “Add to this a generous helping of arrogance and condescension, and you have a stock character who is reviled by both men and women on social media.”
Northwestern professor Heather Hendershot pointed out that Jennings’ underwear joke was particularly grotesque given the context: “Referencing underwear in a supposedly humorous retort is particularly insensitive, tasteless, and cruel to survivors of sexual abuse and assault.”
BUT BUT BUT: Here’s the thing—Jennings’ dismissive attitude doesn’t even represent his own party. A CNN poll found that only 6% of Americans are satisfied with how many Epstein files have been released. Two-thirds believe the Justice Department is intentionally hiding information. That includes Republicans.
“In other words, Scott Jennings represents only 6% of Americans,” Bramen said. “The release of the Epstein files is not a partisan issue. Americans are notably unified on the need for the government to release all the files.”
BOTTOM LINE: What McGowan made crystal clear—and what Jennings desperately tried to deflect from—is that demanding accountability for a child sex trafficking operation shouldn’t be controversial. The fact that a prime-time CNN pundit thought he could laugh it off tells you everything about who cable news thinks it’s protecting.