'I’m not answering that': Scott Jennings ducks Trump press-ban questions

CNN commentator Scott Jennings was mocked for being "job hungry" for a post at the White House while President Donald Trump bans his own network.

Jennings is considered the frontrunner for the press secretary post. The president has spent weeks asking friends what they think of Jennings and whether he'd be a good choice. It has been almost a month since Karoline Leavitt's last day at the White House and neither Jennings nor anyone else has been brought in to replace her.

Trump decided to ban members of the press, prompting a full boycott from other outlets in solidarity. The end result was Trump losing live media coverage of his press events.

The Daily Beast pointed to a moment on CNN Monday night: Jennings was confronted by guest host Sara Sidner, who commented, “Scott, I don’t know if you know this, but your name is up for running for the next press secretary.”

Jennings, who has been fighting for the job, commented only with, "Hmmm."

Sidner asked if he stands with the president over the ban or with the network that pays him.

Jennings dodged, “I think he’s unlikely to prevail in court."

“It seems to me the net result of this has been — he has less reach," said Jennings. "And his message is not going to get out as much. If this sort of becomes the way it is, he will be seen and heard by fewer people — which I think is actually a net negative, since he’s his own best spokesperson and his own best press secretary.”

Jennings also said that he believes Trump “sparring” with reporters “works to his advantage. And so if you take them out, you lose that a little bit.”

“I’m not a lawyer... but based on what I’ve heard, it’s unlikely to stick. And it might be a little self-defeating if you consider that you want the president to be heard and seen more, like I do... This seems to be working against that," he added.

Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin pressed Jennings into a corner, “If you’re press secretary, you’re not going to do that. Is that what you’re pledging here right now?”

But Jennings refused to commit to anything. “I’m not answering that.”

Jennings then suggested that CNN wasn't all that bad and that he sees a huge difference between CNN, Politico and MS NOW, which he said is like a "alternate reality."

Sidner said, “Well, some people might say that about Fox.”

“Yeah, [Barack] Obama. He said that about Fox," said Jennings.

Again, Sidner pressed Jennings about whether he thinks that his employer is a "fake news" network, as Trump alleged.

“I sometimes strongly disagree with the framing,” Jennings said. “But no, I think we need to cover the news here, and I think we still can cover the news. But I consider this to be a news outlet. I consider Politico to be a news outlet. MS [NOW] is a different story in my view.”

Rogin chimed in, “If the president’s lost Fox News, that’s probably not a good sign, you know?”

He added that the result of Trump's ban has been nothing but bad for the White House. Trump has “actually ensured” tougher coverage with the ban.

Rogin wondered if Trump simply can't take it emotionally.

“He doesn’t want to hear it,” Rogin suggested. “He doesn’t really care if you report bad things about him, he doesn’t want them to be in his face. He doesn’t want it at his desk, in his room, in his office. He’s built a cocoon around himself, where nobody ever tells him no, where his reality is just agreed to, whether it matches the reality of the rest of us are living in.”

“That has its own danger, because we have a leader of the free world who is eliminating all of the feedback channels that might tell him that, hey, American people really don’t like the Iran war, hey, the American people really do care about the Epstein files, the American people really don’t think the economy is good," said Rogin.

It penetrates a bubble of Trump's chosen reality, which Rogin said is "really important." However, "that actually took a hit today."

The president was humiliated on the pro-Trump network Newsmax when it became clear that the professional press pool brings all of the equipment to capture high-definition video and audio of anything the president says. Trump was mocked mercilessly online for the press event in which no one knew what he was saying, resulting in sparse coverage.

Banned outlets filed a lawsuit on Monday and asked for a temporary restraining order to restore their passes while the case works its way through the courts. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.