CNN’s Bakari Sellers attempted to draw down on Republican commentator Scott Jennings during a Monday evening panel discussion, bristling when Jennings assessed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani in the same way that President Donald Trump had: “a communist.”

Both Sellers and Jennings addressed the issue on CNN’s “NewsNight” with host Abby Phillip, discussing a recent video that showed Mamdani throwing around Marxist terms such as “seizing the means of production” and using government funds to buy up housing developments that would eventually be community-owned.

WATCH:

🔥@ScottJenningsKY battles Bakari Sellers who is riled up over the idea that Mamdani is being called a “communist.”

Sellers: He’s a socialist.

Jennings: He’s using the language of the Bolsheviks, is he not?

Sellers: No, he’s not. He’s a socialist.

Jennings: Seizing the means… pic.twitter.com/EtDWGUpiMv

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 2, 2025

“Calling him a communist is not far off base, when he talks about seizing the means of production,” former White House spokesman (under former President George W. Bush) Pete Seat said. “That is a Communist Party plank. He is talking about doing that. So I don’t have any problems with calling him what he is.”

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“And I don’t have any problem calling Donald Trump a felon,” Sellers replied. “Or charged with rape. Or the fact that he doesn’t pay his vendors. Or the fact that he’s racist because he got — he illegally [unintelligible] … and you’re right, you may have a Democratic socialist elected as mayor of New York City.”

“So you agree with Pete that he’s a communist?” Jennings asked.

“He’s not a communist,” one of the other panelists said off-camera.

“He’s a socialist,” Bakari said.

“He said ‘seize the means of production,'” Jennings said.

His voice rising a few pitches, Sellers repeated, “He’s a socialist! I’m not a socialist, but he calls himself —”

“He literally uses — he’s using the language of the Bolsheviks, is he not?” Jennings asked.

“No, he’s not,” Sellers tried again. “He’s a socialist, not a communist.”

“Seizing the means of production?” Jennings raised an eyebrow.

“That’s called socialism,” Sellers said. “Not communism.”

Phillip cut in then, bringing the debate to a close.

All evidence to the contrary, Mamdani has repeatedly stated that he is not a communist, but rather a “democratic socialist.”

The FBI announced Tuesday that it had selected the Ronald Reagan Building complex in Washington, D.C., to replace the historic J. Edgar Hoover Building as its headquarters.

The news comes after FBI Director Kash Patel said in May that the bureau would be leaving the Hoover building, where it has been for over 50 years. The announcement was made in conjunction with the General Services Administration (GSA), which said the move to an existing government building instead of a new one would save taxpayer dollars. 

“This is a historic moment for the FBI,” Patel said. “Through our strong partnerships with members of Congress and GSA, we are ushering FBI Headquarters into a new era and providing our agents of justice a safer place to work. Moving to the Ronald Reagan Building is the most cost effective and resource efficient way to carry out our mission to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.”

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There have been talks for nearly two decades about moving the FBI from the Hoover building, which was completed in 1975. A 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the building needed serious repairs and was “inefficient” for the FBI’s needs.

“FBI’s existing headquarters at the Hoover building is a perfect example of a government building that has accumulated years of deferred maintenance, suffering from an aging water system to concrete falling off the structure,” said GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian. “I am proud of GSA’s commitment to working with Director Patel and his FBI team to find a building that best supports their mission and their people.”

Both Maryland and Virginia attempted to get the FBI headquarters moved to their state, but President Trump said he wanted to keep the FBI based in D.C. Trump scuttled plans from former President Joe Biden to build a new $2.5 billion building in suburban Maryland for the FBI.

The Reagan Building currently houses U.S. Customs and Border Protection and was previously occupied by USAID, which has been shut down and transferred to the State Department. 

Before he became FBI director, Patel said that he would “shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and [reopen it the] next day as a museum of the deep state.” Patel has also pledged to disperse the FBI employees across the country away from D.C.