CNN’s “State of the Union” panel got into a testy exchange Sunday after a Republican panelist shut down a co-panelist who tried to deflect from Hunter Biden.
The panel were discussing President Joe Biden’s recent acknowledgement of Hunter Biden’s lovechild Navy Roberts. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden publicly acknowledged Navy’s existence in an exclusive statement to People Magazine.
CNN’s Scott Jennings – a Republican – criticized fellow panelist and former Biden senior aide Michael LaRosa for claiming Republicans were weaponizing Navy’s existence.
“It’s not Republicans, with all due respect, who made Hunter Biden into a complete scumbag on this and other issues, ignoring his own daughter for four years,” Jennings said.
That’s when analyst Karen Finney chimed in and attempted to divert the conversation topic back to comments Jennings made last week while on the network. (RELATED: Black Member Of FL Curriculum Board Rips VP Harris’ Slavery Claims As ‘Categorically False’)
Jennings criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for making “something literally out of nothing” in reference to Florida’s new education standards which teaches, in part, that enslaved persons did learn some valuable skills that helped them after slavery ended. Harris claimed the schools are forcing students to learn that enslaved persons “benefited from slavery.”
“It is far more appalling to see the Republicans, this week, starting with you Scott, calling the vice president of the United States a liar when it comes to the very real personal stories. I don’t need some academic to tell me about the horrors of slavery. It’s in my own family, I know my own family’s stories. You now have black conservatives who agree with her. Are they liars too? I think that conversation is far more troubling than an addict and a bad family situation,” Finney said.
“It is a nice attempt at a pivot,” former Vice President Mike Pence’s former Chief of Staff Marc Short snapped back. “But it’s not about Hunter Biden’s addiction. This is about Joe Biden not recognizing his granddaughter for four years. The statement might be well worded but it is inexcusable that it took him four years to acknowledge that a child of God, that was conceived regardless of the circumstances at conception, that a child of God you wouldn’t recognize for four years.”
“I understand why you would rather talk about that than the fact that your party is demonizing people who want to tell the truth about racism while trying to reach out to African American voters,” Finney said before the panel ended.