A former Department of Homeland Security official who served under President Donald Trump has issued dramatic allegations against a well-known CNN commentator, asserting the pundit ridicules the president privately while defending him on television.
Miles Taylor, who was DHS chief of staff during Trump’s first term, ignited the controversy on social media Tuesday after a heated exchange with Scott Jennings on CNN’s “NewsNight” the night before. Taylor posted on X that Jennings is “a pundit who mocks Trump with us during commercial breaks — but fawns over Trump when the camera is rolling.”
The claim provoked an online backlash. New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan defended Jennings, describing him as a person of conviction whose political views are sincere. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) pushed back, writing: “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING??!! I’ve been on CNN too and while I won’t reveal behind the scenes details, I’ll just say I disagree.” Jennings has not publicly replied to Taylor’s assertion.
The dispute comes as Taylor faces growing scrutiny from the Trump administration. In April 2025, the president issued a memorandum titled “Addressing Risks Associated with an Egregious Leaker and Disseminator of Falsehoods” that named Taylor and directed several agencies to review his prior service. Trump publicly called Taylor “guilty of treason.”
Taylor’s charge against Jennings adds to debates over media coverage of the Trump administration. Jennings, who served under George W. Bush before joining CNN, has become a visible defender of Trump’s policies on cable news and appeared with Trump at a rally in Warren, Michigan, in April 2025.
Notably, Jennings previously criticized Trump sharply. In a CNN op-ed on January 6, 2021, he wrote that “President Donald Trump caused this insurrection with his lies and conspiracy theories about the election process being rigged against him.”
Taylor left the Trump administration in 2019. In September 2018, while serving as chief of staff to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, he published an anonymous New York Times op-ed describing himself as part of a secret “resistance” opposing Trump’s “misguided impulses.” After departing DHS he received the Distinguished Service Medal and later released an anonymous book, “A Warning,” in 2019, followed by a second book under his own name, “Blowback,” in 2023, warning about Trump’s potential return.
The Trump administration’s inquiry into Taylor has produced what his lawyer, veteran Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, calls a “textbook definition of political retribution.” In a letter to federal inspectors general dated June 3, 2025, Lowell argued the memorandum targeted Taylor for criticizing the president.
The investigation has upended Taylor’s personal life. His legal team reports threats and harassment, and former colleagues have lost government jobs because of their ties to him. Taylor told the Associated Press there’s been an “implosion in our lives.” He set up a fund for legal costs, stepped away from work, and his wife returned to the workforce to help cover household expenses.
On the same April day, Trump issued a related order targeting Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Trump fired Krebs in November 2020 after Krebs challenged the president’s claims of voting fraud in the 2020 election and called it “the most secure in American history.”
Despite the personal and professional fallout, Taylor says he will not be silenced, arguing that doing so would be cowering and would signal there are no consequences when the administration abuses its authority.
After Taylor’s initial allegation, three other CNN-affiliated figures have come forward corroborating his account. Former Illinois congressman and CNN contributor Joe Walsh said he could confirm Taylor’s description, calling Jennings “a fraud” and “an actor playing a role” who “doesn’t believe what he says.”
Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky wrote on X that she personally saw Jennings criticize Trump in the green room “repeatedly.”
Former CNN contributor Wajahat Ali also supported the claims, saying Jennings behaved the same way during his time at the network.
