CNN panel explodes as ex-Bush advisor claims Kamala Harris couldn't pick Josh Shapiro due to rampant anti-Semitism in the Democratic party

A CNN panel flew into a frenzy after a conservative pundit claimed that Josh Shapiro was passed over as Kamala Harris' running mate because the Democratic party is 'awash in anti-Semitism.' 

Contributor Scott Jennings, a former staffer to President George W. Bush, appeared to anger his fellow panelists after speculating Shapiro's religion was the primary reason for Harris excluding him from the ticket.

But the conversation quickly spiraled into offhand comments on abortion and school lunches. 

Jennings initially claimed that Harris 'bowed down to the radical left' by opting for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He speculated that choosing Shapiro, who is Jewish, would have angered the extreme left wing of the party.

Jennings' remarks were quickly met with backlash from others on the panel, who bizarrely countered with the issue of January 6th and Walz's past support for free lunch meals for schoolchildren. 

Jennings' comments on the presidential race came shortly after Harris introduced Walz as her VP pick at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. 

Shapiro had been seen as the odds-on favorite to be on Harris' ticket, however his past support for Israel became a sticking point for many amid outrage over high civilian casualties in Gaza in recent months. 

Following protests across the nation and waning support among young voters within the Democratic Party, Jennings argued that Harris caved to pressure by not selecting Shapiro.

'Kamala Harris absolutely bowed down to the radical left in her party by not picking Shapiro, who is Jewish. There was a nasty campaign run against him,' he said.

'Everybody knows it, no one wants to admit it, but everybody knows it, and she wound up choosing the person who was not Jewish and not as talented.' 

Contributor Ashley Allison quickly fired back at Jennings' remarks, equating Harris' decision with 'one of the big issues in this election - a woman's right to choose.' 

'Guess what? Kamala Harris got a choice to make, and she got to make the choice of who was going to be her running mate and who she was going to go into the next 90 days and maybe the next four years and maybe the next eight years with,' she said. 

'You don't get to tell her who she has to run with, she gets to choose that, that's what leaders do.' 

Although Jennings had not brought up Walz's past support for free school lunch meals for children, Allison then claimed that the conservative thought Walz 'is a radical because he wants to feed kids.' 

'You know who gets hungry? White kids, black kids, brown kids, poor kids get hungry,' she continued.

'I didn't say that,' Jennings responded. 

Allison then compared Walz's characterization as a 'radical' to Donald Trump failing to tell his supporters that he lost the election before the January 6th riots following the last election. 

'That's radical, that's who your guy is,' she concluded. 

Former advisor to Barack Obama David Axelrod waded into the debate as he dismissed Jennings' speculation over Harris' thinking. 

'Anti-Semitism is something that a lot of us have faced in different ways, and my family has faced,' he said. 'I don't like to see it exploited.' 

As Jennings tried to argue back, correspondent Jamie Gangel interjected with 'sources' on Harris' VP vetting process. 

'Scott, Scott, Scott,' she began. 'One moment, take the beat. I think it’s important to add to that two things that we have from our reporting,' she said. 

'One is that even going into this selection, Josh Shapiro had some, let’s just say, hesitancy or questions about whether he wanted to be the number two. 

'You may remember that three weeks ago, there were a lot of people who were not sure that Kamala Harris was going to be the most exciting ticket. It feels very different now, and he is someone who definitely has ambitions to run and he was looking at down the road.

'And we have new reporting tonight from our team that, in fact, when he went into his vetting meeting and also in his in-person meeting with Harris, he made it very clear what kind of vice president he wanted this to be. 

'It was much more of a two for the price of one. He wants to be in the room. He wanted to have a real say in these things.'