Cnn Panelists Chuckle As Maga Pundit Ties Himself In ‘pretzel’ Defending Trump’s Profits

CNN NewsNight’s panel broke into laughter Thursday night when network analyst Bakari Sellers observed that conservative commentator Ben Ferguson was tying himself into a “pretzel” to defend the Trump family’s business ventures.

The debate came as the panel discussed two fresh developments involving Trump’s finances.

The first was the president’s annual financial disclosure, released Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, which showed Trump more than tripled his income in 2025, the year he returned to the White House, earning more than $2 billion.

The second was a weekend investigation by The New York Times detailing how Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, became financially connected to a U.S.-backed tungsten mining project in Kazakhstan while the Trump administration was helping secure the deal and advancing up to $1.6 billion in potential federal financing.

Ferguson, host of The Ben Ferguson Show, came out in defense of the president and his family, claiming there was nothing improper about the investments because they were engaged in “actual” legitimate business.

He argued: “I think it’s awesome when people in America succeed. I love the fact that we have a president that was really wealthy, but he came in and he keeps doing business with his family. So there’s nothing wrong with –”

“So hold on,” host Abby Phillip cut in. “You would have been fine with the so-called ‘Biden crime family’ if Biden had just been transparent, if Hunter Biden had just been transparent about what he was doing?”

“Let me give you the perfect example,” Ferguson said.

But Phillip replied: “Answer the question.”

As Ferguson stalled again, the host pressed again: “Let me ask you, if Hunter Biden had just been transparent, if he’d just said, ‘You know what I’m doing,? I’m using my dad’s name to make money.’ You would have said totally above board, we’re fine with that? Yes?”

“If he was doing actual business,” Ferguson countered. “Burisma was massive corruption. He didn’t know anything about the industry. Don Jr. and guns is a great example. I hung out with Don Jr. at the Shot Show 20 years ago in Vegas. He’s been involved in guns for 20-plus years.”

But Phillip challenged that claim: “What do the Trump sons know about mining rare earth minerals? What do the Trump sons know about robotics?”

Ferguson replied: “A lot, clearly, they made a lot of money off of it because they actually invest in it.”

The response drew audible laughter from the rest of the panel, which included Sellers, former Biden White House staffer Yemisi Egbewole and former George W. Bush White House official Ashley Davis.

“What do real estate developers know –” Phillip began again, before being interrupted by Ferguson, asking her to look at her retirement account and investments being made there.

Sellers then mocked Ferguson’s defense, telling him: “You asked, what did he do that was unethical or illegal, and I wanted to answer that just plain and simply because you, I don’t know, I take hot yoga I feel like you’re doing a little yoga, too, for that pretzel that you got yourself in.”

“In quarter one of 2026, Donald Trump has executed 3,500 trades. You want to know what’s unethical about that?” he asked, before Ferguson countered with claims that Nancy Pelosi had engaged in trading while in office.

“I’m glad you brought her up because it’s nowhere near,” Sellers fired back.

As Ferguson went into a tirade about Pelosi, defending Trump as a businessman who already had a lot of money and investment interests, Sellers repeated his name before rounding on his final point.

“To utilize your phrase, the president makes $400,000 a year,” Sellers said. “This quarter, he’s made over $1 billion – $1.2 to $1.4 billion – on crypto alone-”

“That’s amazing!” Ferguson said.

“What I want to tell you that’s unethical is the fact that when you make 3500 trades in one year, and you go up and you invest in a company, and then you sit in the Oval Office and you tell people, ‘Wow, this company is great. This company is going to do X, Y, Z’ or you ease regulations on this company and you trade and purchase stock in that company. That fundamentally is unethical. You can call it what you want.”

Watch above via CNN.

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