CNN contributors Kate Bedingfield and Scott Jennings on CNN on September 16, 2025

CNN political commentator Kate Bedingfield and conservative commentator Scott Jennings traded barbs during a CNN segment on Tuesday evening during a discussion on political violence in the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s death, with Bedingfield telling Jennings he “missed the entire point."

At the beginning of the segment, CNN played Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's (D) statement condemning political violence.

Host Kasie Hunt said, "I will note that the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, was someone who, when president Trump, somebody you know, was hit by a bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, Shapiro stood up and denounced it in a clear, unequivocal way.”

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“Now he's saying we do the same thing here. Do you think that he has got a point?" she asked Jennings.

"Well, I think his point would be strengthened if he were honest today about who burned his house down," Jennings replied.

"You know, it was a 'free Palestine' leftist who came and burned down the governor's mansion. He left that out. He left that out of his tweet today. And he's talking about cherry picking political violence. And we're talking about where there might be political violence. The violence against the governor of Pennsylvania and his family came from the left. There's a rush by Democrats who want to be president in 2028 to try to turn somehow Donald Trump's friend get shot. And now everybody wants to blame Donald Trump for it," Jennings said.

"I guess that's what you have to do to get elected president as a Democrat," he said.

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At this, the host interjected, saying: "We are not doing that sitting here."

Bedingfiield said, "The governor's point is that it doesn't matter where the violence came from. I think it shouldn't matter the motivations of the people? It should be condemned regardless of the entire point of his speech."

Jennings replied: "Don't you care about the motivation? "

“Look, I think that if we cannot be honest, if I were him and somebody tried to burn my house down, I think I'd be honest about who did it and why they did it. And it would matter for people to know that, would it not?" He added.

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Bedingfield then called Jennings out: “You would just like it if a politically critical message was applied to what he was trying to say. I mean, that's what you're saying, right?”

She added: “You're saying you like what he said in condemning political violence across the board, but it didn't work for you because you didn't try to get in a dig at whose fault it was.”

“The entire point is that we have to condemn political violence from all sides, in all stripes, in whatever form. And I think the fact that we are sitting here, even having this conversation is deeply, deeply problematic in terms of where the where the temperature is in the country right now,” she continued.

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