{"id":1567,"date":"2026-07-08T09:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:32:04","slug":"biranna-lyman-swipes-at-scott-jennings-over-mcconnell-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1567","title":{"rendered":"Biranna Lyman Swipes at Scott Jennings Over McConnell Call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<p>Conservative CNN panelist <strong>Brianna Lyman<\/strong> threw some shade at network commentator <strong>Scott Jennings<\/strong> on Tuesday over a phone call he said he had with Sen. <strong>Mitch McConnell<\/strong> (R-KY).<\/p>\n<p>McConnell, 84, has been in the hospital since June 14, when he was reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/shock-report-says-mitch-mcconnell-was-found-unconscious-after-possible-heart-attack-last-month\/\">found unconscious<\/a> from cardiac arrest. Aides for the senator have refused to say why he was taken to the hospital or why he remains there. On Tuesday, Jennings, a longtime friend of McConnell\u2019s, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ScottJenningsKY\/status\/2074537046752845872\">posted<\/a> on X and later said on CNN that he spoke with McConnell that morning for almost 20 minutes. Despite allegedly speaking with the senator, Jennings <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/tv\/cnns-kasie-hunt-challenges-scott-jennings-to-get-ailing-mcconnell-on-the-phone-you-think-hed-be-willing\/\">claimed<\/a> he only knew what had been publicly reported about McConnell\u2019s health. Instead, Jennings said they spoke about Iran, Ukraine, and the <strong>Graham Platner<\/strong> scandal.<\/p>\n<p>About 40 minutes after Jennings posted about the call with McConnell, Punchbowl News <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LauraEWeiss16\/status\/2074547412530553095\">reported<\/a> that the senator also spoke with Senate Majority Leader <strong>John Thune<\/strong> (R-SD) about \u201ca variety of topics, including national security.\u201d Punchbowl also said McConnell spoke with Senate Majority Whip <strong>John Barrasso<\/strong> (R-WY) for \u201croughly 20 minutes\u201d about several matters, including the Graham Platner scandal.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-minute McConnell phone call became something of a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/search?q=mcconnell%2020%20minute&amp;src=typed_query&amp;f=live\">gag<\/a> on social media, with some users posting about phantom 20-minute phone calls with the senator.<\/p>\n<p>During Tuesday\u2019s edition of <em>CNN NewsNight<\/em>, host<strong> Abby Phillip<\/strong> asked simply, \u201cWhy can\u2019t they just say, \u2018He had this condition. He\u2019s on the mend. He\u2019s improving.\u2019 Whatever it is, if it is in fact that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lyman, who did not mention Jennings, Thune, or Barrasso by name, mocked what she called a \u201cweird talking point\u201d they had echoed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s wholly unacceptable,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that the tweets we\u2019ve seen today about these 20-minute phone calls, that everyone has a 20-minute slot, I guess if I was calling someone who was out of commission for a few weeks, I would not ask them about the war, SCOTUS. I probably say, \u2018How are you doing?\u2019 But it seemed like a weird talking point that kind of came out for a lot of people on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watch above via CNN.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conservative CNN panelist Brianna Lyman threw some shade at network commentator Scott Jennings on Tuesday over a phone call he said he had with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). McConnell, 84, has been in the hospital since June 14, when he was reportedly found unconscious from cardiac arrest. Aides for the senator have refused to say&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screen-Shot-2026-07-07-at-8-31-54-PM.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}