A tense on-air argument broke out on Friday night during CNN’s NewsNight after former Democratic lawmaker Bakari Sellers criticised MAGA figures for refusing to distance themselves from white nationalist Nick Fuentes. The exchange quickly escalated into a long back-and-forth between Sellers and Katie Miller, the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller. The clash began when Sellers said Fuentes still held influence inside the Republican Party.
“The fact that we’re even mentioning Nick Fuentes, he’s 4’11, he’s misogynistic, and he’s antisemitic, but yet he is somebody who has the pulse of the Republican base right now,” Sellers said. Miller cut in immediately, rejecting the claim and insisting that Democrats were using Fuentes’ name to divide Republicans.“Nick does not have the pulse of the Republican base. It’s what Democrats want to say to divide the Republican base,” Miller said, while defending vice president JD Vance for not criticising Tucker Carlson after Carlson invited Fuentes onto his podcast. Miller then shifted her criticism to host Abby Phillip. She accused Phillip of allowing liberal podcaster Jennifer Welch on air without questioning her comments about Stephen Miller. “She called my husband a white nationalist. That is no different from Nick Fuentes going on Tucker Carlson’s show,” she said. Phillip pushed back. “How is it similar? It’s not remotely similar. Nick Fuentes sits around and says he likes Hitler,” she said. Miller interrupted with, “Excuse me!” and argued that if Fuentes was free to express his views, Phillip should not object to his appearance on Carlson’s show. “It’s not different, Abby, it’s not,” Miller said. This is not the first time Miller has sparked controversy on air. In October, she stunned a CNN panel when she made racist remarks about former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, claiming Pierre was only prominent because of her race and sexuality.
