Jennings to CNN Panel Defending Palestinian Immigrant Activist: ‘Saying ‘Eradicate Western Civilization’ Doesn’t Make You a Radical?’’

PHILLIP: “Before you move on, because I think that’s a really important point, right?”
JENNINGS: “Yeah.”
PHILLIP: “That’s the statute that they’re using.”
JENNINGS: “Yeah.”
PHILLIP: “Have you seen any evidence to suggest that there is actually a serious reason to believe that this student is going to be a threat to national security in this country?”
JENNINGS: “I certainly watched the abomination that’s gone on at Columbia and Barnard and other places. And I will just say — “
PILLIP: “Okay, so a threat to national security?”
JENNINGS: “And I’ll just tell you that his organization — “
PHILLIP: “I mean, I’m not going to let you move on because this is the problem.”
JENNINGS: “Yeah, I’ll tell you why it’s a threat to national security if you’ll let me answer you.”
PHILLIP: Well, Scott — “
JENNINGS: “You want me to answer you or not?”
PHILLIP: Okay.
JENNINGS: “His organization says, ‘We are dedicated fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization.’”
PHILLIP: “Okay.”
JENNINGS: “He’s not a citizen. He doesn’t need to be here.”
PHILLIP: “I don’t want to — I don’t want to move on.”
NAVARRO: “In my — in my view, it was a failure by Columbia University. They could have expelled him. They could have banned him from campus, and they should have, if he violated their policy. Look, every student has a right to attend school without fear of intimidation, right? But what we are doing here with this — the message that this is sending is a message to scare anybody from protesting.”
BLAKEMAN: “No, that’s absolutely wrong.”
PHILLIP: “And Scott, you just described him having viewpoints that you disagree with. Again, is that enough to have someone lose their rights in this country?”
JENNINGS: “He has viewpoints that, in my opinion, jeopardize the security of the United States.”
PHILLIP: “How? But how?”
JENNINGS: “He is — he is obviously — obviously a radical who is here to foment — “
LATHAN: “No, he’s not a radical at all.”
PHILLIP: “So, has he committed — has he committed violence against the United States government, Scott?
JENNINGS: “You’re saying eradicate — “
BLAKEMAN: “He wants to destroy Western civilization.
JENNINGS: “ — Western civilization doesn’t make you a radical?”
PHILLIP: “Scott, has he acted in any way that is violence against the United States government?”
JENNINGS: “I think these — I think these protests and the violence they have fomented, and the intimidation and fear against the Jewish kids on these campuses is absolutely an act of insurrection against the United States.”
PHILLIP: “But you’re — okay.”
KOH: “I don’t think — I don’t think anyone here is condoning.”
PHILLIP: “But I just — the irony of you saying that that’s an act of insurrection against the United States, and this president — when this president just — “
JENNINGS: “Of course he would love to see this government fall. Would he not?”
PHILLIP: “ — pardoned people who actually conducted an insurrection against the United States is amazing to me. Go ahead, Van.”
LATHAN: “Yeah, let’s take a step back. You guys have the same feeling about his organization as you do about organizations like Proud Boys or anybody like that, that was involved in the January 6th insurrection and was pardoned — “
JENNINGS: “Do not — have never condoned it and would not have pardoned.”
KOH: “Wait, wait.”
PHILLIP: “Go ahead, Dan.”
KOH: “Nobody at this table is condoning anti-Semitism. I think we need to take a step back and realize the implications of what the President has done without due process. On his Truth Social post, he not only referenced anti-Semitism, he referenced anti-American speech. Does anyone here know what he means by anti-American speech? Because I certainly don’t. And so, leaving that up to President Trump, I think there’s a lot of Americans out there who would be pretty concerned about him using his own interpretation of anti-American to do things without due process.”
PHILLIP: “Is anti-American speech, Scott — that’s enough?”
BLAKEMAN: “Yes.”
JENNINGS: “Look, what they have engaged in is a clear threat to the United States. And if you want the United States to be overrun by radicals the way Europe has, be my guest. But I think the president needs to stand up for the integrity of the United States.”
PHILLIP: “But Scott, what is the threat?”
JENNINGS: “The threat of our country and our college campuses being overrun by radicals who are trying to run Jewish kids off of campuses.”