CNN panel descends into fiery clash as guests debate who really controls the media

A live CNN segment devolved into an argument after a Democratic strategist's claim that the mainstream media was run by conservatives. 

The remark was aired Tuesday by prominent Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, toward black sheep Republican strategist Scott Jennings. 

Both work at the network as part-time contributors, and had been engaged in a fierce debate on the veracity of a freshly filed lawsuit from Donald Trump.

Filed in Iowa Monday night, the suit names the Des Moines Register as a defendant, over a poll it published with Kamala Harris as a frontrunner he has slammed as 'fake news.'

Trump would win the Hawkeye State with 55 percent of the vote days later, to Harris's 42 percent. The poll had Harris leading Trump by three points mere days before, hence the president-elect's outrage.

On CNN NewsNight, host Abby Phillip pondered the prospect that the discrepancy could be an example of members of the media manipulating free speech.

In response, Roginsky - an American born in Moscow - listed a slew of outlets she viewed as being aligned with Trump. Among them were Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post, as well as figures like Sean Hannity and Joe Rogan.

Painting them as part of Trump's personal press army, Roginsky was quickly met with an unamused Jennings, who went on to call the claim the 'nuttiest' he'd ever heard.

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'Do you know what I’m so tired of, Scott?' 51-year-old Roginsky said at first. 'The number one cable news network, Fox News. The number one paper by circulation, The Wall Street Journal. Number three paper by circulation, the New York Post.'

Turning to personalities and podcasters, she added: 'The number one person on the radio, Sean Hannity. The number one person on podcast, Joe Rogan. 

'All of these people are Trump supporters,' the former Fox News contributor continued. 'What media are you talking about that’s anti-Trump?'

The question was posed to Jennings, who emerged as Roginsky's fiercest opponent.

The panel that also included former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to violation campaign-finance laws at Trump's behest 'for the principal purpose of influencing" the 2016 presidential election.

'You’re not familiar with the anti-Trump media?' Jennings - a contributor for CNN, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times - was heard asking in response.

'You’re not familiar with the fact that you guys control everything from podcasts-' Roginsky retorted, before being cut off by her contemporary and hit with what amounted to a bipartisan beatdown.

'I mean, of all the things I’ve heard you say out here, that might be the nuttiest,' Jennings, 47, proclaimed - clearly puzzled as Republicans have long insisted the exact opposite.

'Believe me, there’s plenty of anti-Trump media,' Jennings said - though the brush-up did not end there.

'What I’m basically trying to say is that you guys have taken over the airwaves,' Roginsky shot back - as liberals ranging from Joy Reid to the ladies of the View continue to cast blame on unsuccessful outreach efforts rather than looking inward.

'You guys have taken over the radio airwaves,' Roginsky continued. 'You guys have taken over podcasts.'  

'And now you’re sitting here complaining - because all you guys do is whine and complain. 

'Your entire raison d’etre is to have grievances,' she concluded of Jennings and other Republicans.  

'You don’t actually think about leading. You just think about having grievances against the media.'

Similar sentiments - particularly in the past month or so - have been aired by an array of progressive news personalities as newscasters from stations like CNN and MSNBC continue to seek to explain the result, which was more pronounced than many had thought. 

Just last month, a day after Harris's loss, Roginsky criticized onlookers - and and her own colleagues - for finger-pointing instead of actually looking inward, explaining through what she framed as a series of what she called 'hard truths' why she believes Democrats have become out-of-touch.

'I'm going to speak some hard truths to my friends in the Democratic Party,' Roginsky began, after similar criticisms were waged in the wake of the 2016 election, where many counted out Trump as a credible threat against ill-fated favorite Hillary Clinton.. 

'It's not Kamala Harris fault,' she continued. 'It's not Barack Obama's fault. It is the fault of the Democratic Party in not knowing how to communicate effectively to voters.

'We are not the party of common sense,' she then declare - adding '[this] is the message that voters sent to us. 

'For a number of reasons, we don't know how to speak to voters.'

However, on Tuesday, she sang a decidedly different tune - days after Disney reached a settlement with the president-elect in a defamation case filed after anchor George Stephanopoulos said on the air that Trump had been found “liable for rape” in a New York civil trial. 

In reality, Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse - leading to the out-of-court settlement.   

Former Trump attorney Cohen then brought up word of the freshly settled ABC News lawsuit, which had been first reported hours before. It will see the network accused of giving Harris a leg-up in her sole presidential debate fork over $12million.

He pointed out that the president-elect was questioning whether the poll in question was a 'deliberate fake poll,' while appearing to suggest that, like ABC, the Des Moines Register could be willing to settle out of court to avoid evidence coming out in discovery.

'What happens when it is deliberate?' Cohen asked on Tuesday. 'And that’s why I believe that ABC ended up folding, because they did not want discovery to take place. There’s no other reason as far as I’m concerned as to why they did it.'

'They folded because they wanted to suck up to Donald Trump,' Roginsky went on to claim - doubling down on her earlier argument.