Democratic CNN commentator Van Jones bit off more than he could chew on Monday night while trying to go toe-to-toe with the network’s in-house conservative Scott Jennings.
During a panel discussion about a new grand jury probe into Obama-era officials over the Russia collusion hoax, Jones tried to claim the moral high ground.
The panel had been discussing a new grand jury ordered by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the fraudulent origins of the Russiagate narrative.
“Half the country believes a lot of dumb stuff, including a lot of dumb stuff that comes from Republicans,” Jones said about the Russian narrative. “But nobody’s trying to put anybody in prison over it.”
It was an odd claim, considering what his party has spent the past several years trying to do.
Jennings didn’t let it slide.
“They tried to put Donald Trump in jail, Van!” Jennings fired back.
When Jones tried to respond, Jennings cut in again: “Repeatedly!”
VAN JONES: “Half the country believes a lot of dumb stuff, including a lot of dumb stuff that comes from Republicans, but nobody’s trying to put anybody in prison over it”
SCOTT JENNINGS: “They tried to put Donald Trump in jail, Van! Repeatedly.” pic.twitter.com/pVs4jXpl2O
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) August 4, 2025
Which party is most likely to imprison its opponents?
Jennings reminded viewers that Democrats and the media misled Americans and a majority of Democrats into believing President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win in 2016.
He pointed out that intelligence documents now show the story was fabricated.
“Why shouldn’t we look into it?” Jennings asked.
Jones deflected by saying people on both sides believe “wacky stuff” and argued that the country should essentially move forward.
But Russiagate wasn’t just “wacky.” It was a coordinated attempt to smear a sitting president by a party that tried to imprison him at the state and federal levels after he left office.
Had Trump not won in 2024, he might be sitting in jail today.
Jones couldn’t help but indulge in revisionism, as he would probably like for everyone to forget the lawfare against Trump and other conservatives during the Biden years.
The entire Democratic Party would probably prefer voters also not remember that a majority of its rank-and-file voters also wanted people punished for refusing vaccines during the pandemic.
According to a Rasmussen poll from January 2022, 59 percent of Democrats supported confining the unvaccinated to their homes.
Forty-five percent wanted them sent to government camps.
A majority of Democrats quite literally wanted people in prison without due process for disagreeing with their worldview.
To be fair, Jones wasn’t too jazzed about Trump’s ridiculous trial in New York when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him.
But Jones still carries water for the party that pushed it. Now that Democrats are no longer in charge, he wants everyone to move on.
Unfortunately for Jones, he tried the spin against Scott Jennings, who never has a problem putting things into perspective for CNN’s viewers.
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