**CNN Panel Erupts Over Debate on Trump's Comments and Racism**

During Monday night's edition of CNN's NewsNight with Abby Phillip, tensions flared among panelists as they debated whether former President Donald Trump’s comments about migrants exhibited racial prejudice. The contentious moments arose after Scott Jennings, a former GOP strategist, justified Trump's earlier assertion that some migrants commit murder in the U.S. because "it's in their genes." Jennings stated it was "perfectly fine to acknowledge" that some individuals might be "genetically predisposed to violence."

However, his remarks were quickly challenged by Michael Eric Dyson, a liberal academic, who argued that Trump’s language was steeped in "white supremacy" and designed to appeal to nativist sentiments. The discussion took a sharp turn as former RNC spokesperson Madison Gesiotto defended Trump, drawing a parallel between allowing "13,000 murderers" into the country and the repercussions of lenient immigration policies.

Host Abby Phillip stepped in, calling attention to the fact that the statistics Gesiotto cited span several decades and painting a "wildly misleading" picture of the actual crime rates among migrants, which are significantly lower than those of U.S.-born citizens. Despite the effort to clarify, the heated back-and-forth continued, with Gesiotto arguing that a "lot of rapists and murderers" still manage to enter the country, while columnist and Rabbi Jay Michaelson countered that these crimes occur at a lower rate than among natural-born Americans.

As the debate grew increasingly chaotic, Phillip fact-checked Gesiotto again on her claim that convicted violent migrants remain at large in the country. Gesiotto continued to defend her stance, speaking over the host in the process. Seeking a semblance of resolution, Michaelson extended an olive branch to Jennings, suggesting an openness to a non-racist argument on immigration control. Jennings responded by calling for honesty in the debate, further fueling the discussion.

The unresolved and fiery exchange highlighted the ongoing divisions over Donald Trump’s controversial statements and broader discussions on race and immigration in the United States.