CNN Anchor Calls BS on Trump Ally Over $24M Nepo-Looking Contract: ‘We Are Not Stupid!’

CNN anchor Abby Phillip called BS on a pro-Trump panelist over a contract that President Donald Trump’s Pentagon awarded a company that employs second First Son Eric Trump.

Foundation Industries chief strategic adviser Eric Trump took a victory lap Thursday, receiving congratulations from Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo over a $24 million Pentagon contract for a humanoid robot.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip hosted a panel that included Jaime Harrison, Joe Borelli, Caroline Downey, Yemisi Egbewole, and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams.

When Borelli suggested the contract had nothing to do with Eric Trump being the president’s son, Phillip pounced:

PHILLIP: Is it okay for the Trump sons to get on the boards of all these companies, a robotics company, a drone company, for the express purpose of those companies getting contracts with his father’s administration.

DOWNEY: Yes, and well, there’s a lot of robotics companies, right? And given the President’s relationship to a key investor in Phantom, the one that Eric Trump is involved in, I think they should have made a case to the public, why did this company win the Pentagon contract? Why did they get the bid? What made them the most compelling candidate for the job above all other companies?

With that being said, I think the Hunter Biden comparison is interesting. And obviously, that was a case of clear conflict of interest and outright influence peddling, a massive scandal, right? The difference though is that you know, accepting secret payments from a foreign oligarch is not national defense procurement, which is what this company is doing with Eric Trump.

(CROSSTALK) PHILLIP: Well, you’re mixing apples and oranges. We don’t know how much Eric Trump is being paid to have a nominal title on this company. So the secret payments that would be analogous would be what Eric Trump is being paid. We do know, however, that they are getting a government contract because of that relationship. And it’s so out in the open.

(CROSSTALK)

JOE BORELLI, FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: No, we don’t. We don’t know that. You’re insinuating that.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Hold on. He went on television morning to brag about how once he has become a part of this company, they have now gotten a federal government contract. Joe, we are not stupid.

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: I watched the segment.

PHILLIP: People are not dumb. You’re trying to say that —

BORELLI: You’re saying the company got the contract only because —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: — there’s no relationship between —

BORELLI: You’re trying to say —

PHILLIP: Eric Trump being a part of this company and them getting a government contract?

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: You made an allegation and now you’re insinuating something that you have no proof for. You have no proof.

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: This was a $24 million which is a drop in the book of Pentagon spending.

PHILLIP: Hold on, Joe. Joe —

BORELLI: It’s for a company to test the product to be able to potentially future supply American and Ukrainian troops.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Even if — even if there was no proof that there was a clear role that Eric Trump played, why is it appropriate that the president’s son, a company that is backed by the president’s son should get a government contract, period? BORELLI: Period. Because —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: That’s something that you guys thought was corruption when you accused Hunter Biden of doing it.

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: No, no. When you’re trying to hide it and you have 10 percent for the big guy —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Oh, so, when you got to hide it —

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: — you have to hide it in order for to be bad.

(CROSSTALK)

BORELLI: So, let’s put it this way.

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: One of the biggest knits ever, by the way —

BORELLI: Hold on.

ABRAMS: That wasn’t even vice president anymore. He wasn’t even vice president anymore. And the guy’s been totally discredited, and there’s zero evidence that Joe Biden never made a penny. So, if we’re going to actually go down this road, it’s really a bad comparison to Trump.

Watch above via CNN NewsNight.

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