A CNN live panel erupted into a furious clash over US president Donald Trump’s health after his ‘life-changing’ diagnosis
CNN erupted into a blistering clash over US president Donald Trump’s health and “memory lapses” after he received a life-changing diagnosis. Abby Phillip was presenting her Newsnight programmed on Thursday (July 17) when things got heated between GOP strategist Scott Jennings, Republican radio host Ben Ferguson and journalist Touré.
While Jennings and Ferguson were both out to defend 79-year-old Trump, comparing his so-called “memory lapses” to Joe Biden’s similar issues and insisting they could be due to a stressful workload, Touré insisted: “They are not the same!” He fumed at Ferguson: “You have Kool-Aid on the side of your mouth,” referring to the infamous Jonestown massacre which saw Jim Jones poison his cult followers with the substance.
Jennings insisted that Trump’s team is showing more transparency than Biden’s, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt issuing a statement on Trump’s recent diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a benign condition that can cause bruising and swelling, particularly in over 70s.
But Touré pointed out during the row: “This guy was supposedly shot in the ear, and we never heard from his doctors about that.”
Trump initially raised concerns over his memory during a speech in Pennsylvania, which saw him falsely assert that his late uncle Dr John Trump taught the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski at MIT – though he never actually attended the institution.
John Trump died in 1985, years before Kaczynski was even identified as the Unabomber. He also forgot the names of aides during the speech.
Host Abby pointed out: “He didn’t even remember appointing his own Fed Chair!” after a “surprised” Trump seemed to not recall he’d first appointed Jerome Powell to the position in 2018 – before Biden came into power.