“CNN NewsNight” host Abby Phillip spent almost four minutes cutting off Republican strategists Scott Jennings and Shermichael Singleton Tuesday night during a discussion on the economy.
Major stock markets rebounded Tuesday after President Donald Trump hinted that reciprocal tariffs on China might be reduced eventually and that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell would remain in his post. Jennings and Singleton clashed with Phillip about Trump’s complaints over the Federal Reserve’s failure to cut interest rates.
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“Do you honestly believe the president shouldn’t be able to render opinions about monetary policies?” Jennings asked Phillip, who said, “Scott, you keep repeating something that nobody ever said. No one ever said that Trump cannot have an —”
“We’re having original thoughts here, Abby,” Jennings said, leading to a further back and forth between the former George W. Bush administration official and the CNN host.
While Trump indicated he would have Powell stay put, the president also said Powell was too “late” when it came to cutting interest rates while answering questions from reporters Tuesday.
“No, no, Scott. No one ever said that Trump can’t have an opinion. The question is, should the Fed act based on that opinion? And I think it’s just common sense, right?” Phillip said. “The Fed, it should be acting based on economic information and data, not anybody’s opinion. Trump is not an economist and, as far as I can tell, does not even have a good grasp on how trade works, which is really problematic if he’s going to then turn around and start telling the Fed how to do stuff.”
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“The whole line of thinking is, like, we don’t want Donald Trump to have influence over the operation of the government,” Jennings responded. “And, you know, I just think it’s wrong.”
Powell said during an April 4 speech that the “size and duration” of effects of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were “uncertain.”
“Sometimes I think we forget history. Let’s go back to LBJ. LBJ actually flew the Fed chief down to Texas, his ranch, and berated him because he was pissed off about some of his decisions,” Singleton said before Phillip interrupted him, saying, “And then what?”
After a back and forth, including a moment where Jennings observed that Phillip apparently wanted the two Republican commentators to be a “figurehead,” Singleton called Phillip out.
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“Can I finish my freaking statement?” Singleton snapped, adding. “You just interject. I haven’t concluded my thought process.”
“The point is there have been previous presidents that had similar thought process as to [the] Fed as Trump. That’s a simple position I’m trying to make here,” Singleton added.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
