In yet another epic takedown, CNN’s Scott Jennings dismantled Neera Tanden’s argument over accountability during a heated panel discussion.
Naturally, the left is still trying to blow “Signalgate” out of proportion, attempting to turn a minor issue into a major scandal, and it’s falling flat. Democrats are scrambling to the media, demanding that the Trump administration hold Pete Hegseth accountable for the breach. However, as of now, we still don’t know who added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, to the Signal chat, though I suspect it was a rogue staffer.
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While we can’t say for sure, Democrats are on a witch hunt, calling for Hegseth’s resignation before all the facts are even known. The real issue is that their outrage is entirely performative. They have zero moral high ground when it comes to accountability, and Jennings brilliantly exposed that hypocrisy.
In the exchange on CNN, Tanden suggested that Pete Hegseth should be the fall guy.
“Of course, there should be hearings… He has people throughout the military who just openly acknowledged that if it were a regular officer who did something like this, they would be immediately terminated,” she argued, highlighting what she claims is a lack of accountability in the Trump administration. “I mean, the military requires accountability. It’s the most accountable organization. You were supposed to be accountable to higher-ups. Politics isn’t supposed to have to do it any — to do with any of this. And the fact that that’s happening, that they’re just basically saying, nothing to do here, is a big problem, I think, for those who believe in accountability.”
You can take a moment to laugh.
Naturally, Jennings wasn’t having it.
“I think Republicans aren’t interested in any lectures on accountability in the military after the Biden administration,” he shot back. He pointed out that the bar for removing a Secretary of Defense seemed “pretty high,” referencing the botched Afghanistan withdrawal under Biden, which left 13 Americans dead.
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As Jennings pointed out, in the Biden administration, “you can get 13 people killed and go AWOL and not tell the commander-in-chief, and that’s not a fireable offense.”
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Tanden had no solid response to that and proceeded to make the argument that since Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had to testify before Congress about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hegseth ought to testify about the Signal breach.
“When is he testifying?” she asked, frustrated by what she implied as a delay in accountability.
This, of course, is a stupid argument, because Austin first testified before Congress about the botched Afghanistan withdrawal on Sept. 28, 2021, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing — a month after the botched withdrawal took place. It’s been just a few days since the Signal story broke.
Jennings quickly responded, “You want to do it tonight? I’m sure he will. He’s a Senate-confirmed cabinet officer, so he will go to Congress and he will answer questions.”
🚨 SCOTT JENNINGS DESTROYS CNN PANEL: “I think Republicans aren’t interested in any lectures on accountability in the military after the Biden administration. The bar for getting rid of a secretary of defense is apparently pretty high: You can get 13 people k*lled and go AWOL and… pic.twitter.com/wXzaX2E7TT
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 28, 2025
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The exchange left Tanden struggling to defend her position, while Jennings effectively called out the inconsistencies in her demand for accountability, particularly given the Biden administration’s handling of a far more serious incident.
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