Overview

• On July 31, CNN NewsNight anchors Abby Phillip and Richard Quest confronted senior political commentator Scott Jennings over whether Trump’s 40–60% retaliatory tariffs were ever put into effect.
• Phillip accused Jennings of being “completely disingenuous” for defending economic warnings tied to tariffs that never materialized and pointed to their absence as evidence against a predicted recession.
• Quest pointed out that the April GDP figure was skewed by importers front-loading shipments before tariffs took effect and warned it is still too early to assess the long-term impact.
• Jennings defended himself by saying “I’m just a journalist,” prompting Quest to reject his impartiality claim and press him on accurate data interpretation.
• The heated exchange highlighted ongoing debates over factual accuracy and the media’s role in framing the economic consequences of presidential trade policies.