Tipsheet

Scott Jennings Has Some Thoughts on Chris Van Hollen After ‘Margarita-Gate’

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 20, 2025 12:15 PM

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has been in the news quite a bit lately for venturing off to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant deported to El Salvador, and one he has affectionately dubbed "Maryland man." The senator is continuing to address it, and in a particularly shameful way, as Matt covered. This comes now that Van Hollen's received considerable flak for what he himself describes as "Margarita-gate." Plenty of others are weighing in on the incident, with the senator himself posting a photo meeting with Abrego Garcia featuring margarita glasses in the picture. Among those offering thoughts is CNN's Scott Jennings.

As long as Abrego Garcia has been in the news, Jennings has been chiming in to pointing out how foolish Democrats are for standing by this illegal immigrant who is also a member of MS-13 and who was alleged to have abused his wife. Jennings did so again on Friday.

During "Laura Coates Live," a clip of Van Hollen's remarks were played, as he tried to claim that "the Trump administration wants to flat out lie about what this case is about," a common refrain from the senator.

"Like, if you're explaining how you came to be sipping margaritas with an MS-13 gangbanger, who has lived illegally in the United States for 14 years before he was finally deported, you're losing," Jennings explained about the clip. "Okay? You're losing. You're losing optically. You're losing politically," he added, speaking once more about what a losing issue this is for Democrats, especially as Van Hollen tries to explain it away and come up with all kinds of excuses. 

Jennings also offered what Van Hollen's actual constituents in Maryland might be thinking. As he pointed out, "I assume the people of Maryland are wondering, why doesn't this guy ever work as hard for us as he does for this guy who's down in El Salvador which, by the way, is where he's from in the first place?"

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While Van Hollen has spoken up at great length for the illegal immigrant gang member, he's been mostly silent about Rachel Morin, a Maryland wife and mother who was raped and murdered by another illegal immigrant from El Salvador. He was just found guilty of these crimes last Monday. Van Hollen has yet to post about Morin on X it appears, in strong contrast to Abrego Garcia, whom he often refers to by first name. 

Morin's mother spoke from the podium while at the White House last Wednesday, with a message for Van Hollen. She also tagged the senator in a post of her remarks she shared over X. 

Jennings continued further by speaking to the bigger picture of President Donald Trump and his administration delivering on campaign promises. "I think, you know, macro view for me, the American people elected Donald Trump to deport illegal aliens. They especially elected him to deport people who are affiliated with very violent transnational gangs that we now characterize as terrorist organizations. I think he's doing his job. I think the American people are behind him," he pointed out. 

During the 2024 campaign, whether he was running against then President Joe Biden or then Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump consistently led with immigration, which was a top issue, if not the top issue for voters. While the immigration has dropped in importance, this is because border crossings have gone down to record low levels. Polls continue to show that Americans approve of Trump on immigration and his deportation efforts. 

"I think the Democrats like Van Hollen look ridiculous standing up for him more than they stand up for the people of the United States of America who are actually citizens of this country," Jennigns continued, bringing it back to highlighting how bad this looks for Democrats. 

Perhaps Van Hollen and even more Democrats will return to El Salvador, though. Jennings also had plenty of memorable moments during Thursday's episode of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip."

During the end of the episode, when asked for an unusual place to hold an event, Jennings shared to laughter from his co-panelists that Democrats should hold a fundraiser at the CECOT prison in El Salvador, rather than "at big donors' houses, or in restaurants, or in fancy places in Washington," where they're usually held. This is because, as Jennings offered, "they've never had more energy for anything in their lives than these illegal immigrants."