‘A message has to be sent’

CNN political commentator Scott Jennings and former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi sent sparks flying with their dueling takes on Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest.

It all started with Rossi’s ire over the “spectacle” of arresting a sitting judge rather than just issuing a “summons” that would likely fly under the public radar.

Watch:

Scott Jennings lights up CNN panelist over arrest of Judge Dugan: “A message has to be sent.”

The debate raged as Fmr. Federal Prosecutor Gene Rossi was incensed over the “spectacle” of arresting a sitting judge.

JENNINGS: “Why wouldn’t you want to make a spectacle of it? I… pic.twitter.com/AEDFoNUoQf

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) April 26, 2025

“You have the right to get an arrest warrant, and you have the right to get a summons. And that they got [an] arrest warrant for a judge shows that they wanted to make this a spectacle. Last point I want to make is … I presented to a grand jury and indicted a state prosecutor. I indicted a prosecutor,” an animated Rossi explained. “And I got a summons because I didn’t want to make a spectacle. They made a spectacle of this case.”

“And they announced it on X,” host Abby Phillip inserted.

“Why wouldn’t you want to make a spectacle of it? I mean, the fact of the matter is, there are liberal Democrat elected officials, not all judges, some are mayors and others, all over this country who have said repeatedly since Donald Trump became the president that they would like to obstruct his principles and his program when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants,” Jennings rebutted. “Here you have this person, if these facts are proven true, obviously that’s exactly what she was trying to do.”

“The spectacle is important because a message has to be sent to everybody else, we’re not going to put up- you’ve been elected by people to uphold the law and some of the laws that have been most flagrantly violated in this country are immigration laws, you’ve gotta get on board with upholding all the laws, not just the ones you like,” he continued.

Later in the show, Jennings addressed concerns about the arrest’s “impact on the community.”

“The president and the Justice Department and his people have to worry about the impact of illegal immigration on the country and nobody has been worried about that for years. And the reason this is important is because this is one of Donald Trump’s biggest criminal justice priorities. And frankly, it’s one of the American people’s biggest priorities to control this,” he said. “And you know well there are people all over towns, all over this country who have been working overtime to try to stop him from executing on this agenda. If she turns out to be one of them, a spectacle is warranted so other people will stop doing it.”

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

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