A former Department of Homeland Security official who served under President Donald Trump has made dramatic claims about a well-known CNN commentator, alleging the analyst privately ridicules the president even as he defends him on-air.
Miles Taylor, DHS chief of staff during Trump’s first administration, set off the dispute on social media Tuesday after a tense 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 allegation produced a social media backlash. New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan defended Jennings, saying he is a man of conviction and that his political views are sincere. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) rejected the claim, 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 addressed Taylor’s allegation.
The dispute comes as Taylor faces increased 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 singled out Taylor and instructed several agencies to review his past service. Trump publicly labeled Taylor “guilty of treason.”
Taylor’s accusations add to ongoing debates about media coverage of the Trump administration. Jennings, who served in the George W. Bush administration before joining CNN, has emerged as a prominent defender of Trump’s policies on cable news and appeared with Trump at a rally in Warren, Michigan, in April 2025.
Notably, Jennings once harshly criticized Trump. 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 wrote an anonymous New York Times op-ed describing himself as part of a secret “resistance” opposing Trump’s “misguided impulses.” After leaving DHS he received the Distinguished Service Medal and later published an anonymous book, “A Warning,” in 2019, followed by a second book under his own name, “Blowback,” in 2023, warning about Trump’s possible return.
The administration’s probe into Taylor has, according to his attorney Abbe Lowell, amounted to a “textbook definition of political retribution.” In a June 3, 2025 letter to federal inspectors general, Lowell argued the memorandum targeted Taylor for speaking out against the president.
The investigation has upended Taylor’s personal life. His legal team reports threats and harassment, and former colleagues have lost government jobs over their ties to him. Taylor told the Associated Press there’s been an “implosion in our lives.” He started a fund for legal fees, stepped away from work, and his wife returned to the workforce to help pay the family’s bills.
On the same April day, Trump signed a comparable order targeting Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Trump fired Krebs in November 2020 after Krebs disputed claims of widespread election fraud and described the 2020 election as “the most secure in American history.”
Despite the personal and professional consequences, Taylor says he will not be silenced, arguing that remaining quiet would be cowering and would signal there are no repercussions when the administration abuses its power.
Since Taylor’s initial allegation, three other CNN-affiliated figures have supported 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 witnessed Jennings criticize Trump in the green room “repeatedly.”
Former CNN contributor Wajahat Ali also backed the claims, saying Jennings behaved the same way during his time at the network.