Trump's favorite CNN pundit gets shut down in exchange over White House ballroom

One of President Donald Trump's most consistent defenders on CNN was recently confronted over his celebration of Trump's bulldozing of the East Wing of the White House.

During the Friday episode of CNN host Kaitlan Collins' show "The Source," Collins discussed the lawsuit filed by a nonprofit group seeking to halt construction of Trump's proposed new $300 million ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States alleged that the Trump administration illegally shut the public out of the process typically afforded to them when historic buildings undergo significant renovations.

"President Trump’s efforts to do so should be immediately halted, and work on the Ballroom Project should be paused until the Defendants complete the required reviews—reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom — and secure the necessary approvals," the lawsuit read.

In the panel discussion featuring legal analyst Elie Honig, former Obama administration official Van Jones and pro-Trump pundit Scott Jennings, (who joined Trump onstage at a 2024 campaign rally) the conservative commentator quipped that the group suing Trump over the destruction of the East Wing should feel free to "come over to the White House and pick through the rubble and try to rebuild it," and asserted that "before [Trump] leaves office, that [ballroom] is going to be sitting there legally and procedurally."

"I don't know how it's all going to play out. The man intends to build a ballroom, and I don't know what everybody has against it," Jennings said. "The existing structure was not big enough for what the president needs to do ... When he had his inaugural in the extreme cold in January, they had to do it in the [U.S. Capitol] rotunda! They could have easily done that in something like this. This is a positive thing that he is trying to do for the White House. So how's the paperwork going to go? I don't know, but I promise you they'll be a ballroom sitting there when he leaves office."

At that point, Van Jones interjected and told Jennings that regardless of how much he supports the ballroom, presidents aren't allowed to disregard rules they dislike.

"What we often hear from our Republican friends is, 'I like the outcome, so the process doesn't matter.' That's what happens in an authoritarian country. That's what happens with a dictatorship," Jones said. "It turns out the process does matter in a democracy, rules matter."

"And what if you want to make America great again? How did America get great in the first place? Rule of law. Free markets. Everybody welcome, if you follow the rules. If you have a lawless country, meaning the executive branch does whatever it wants to, you're on the path to being a banana republic," he added. "So ... maybe this big golden ball thing with golden toilets, I have no idea what he's doing. Maybe people will like it, but if it's that great, why not follow the follow the rules?"

Watch the segment below:

- YouTube www.youtube.com