President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN’s Jim Acosta during a live press conference, calling the respected reporter a “terrible person” who is unfit for his job. According to TMZ , Acosta was asking the president about the caravan of migrants seeking asylum in the United States when Trump lashed out.
Acosta questioned the commander in chief about his claims that the migrants were “invading” the country. Trump immediately got heated, saying that he saw it as an invasion, even if Acosta didn’t. When the reporter pushed the president, he responded in anger.
“I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN, and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better,” the president said. “That’s enough.”
Trump tried to shut Acosta down, but the reporter kept at it, attempting to ask Donald Trump about the Russian investigation. Trump responded that the entire thing was a hoax.
“I’m not concerned about anything with the Russia investigation because it’s a hoax,” the president said. “That’s enough, put down the mic.”
Things only went downhill from there. As Trump paced in front of the podium, he said CNN should be “ashamed” to have Acosta working for them, calling him “rude.”
Trump repeated the claim that he believed CNN was the “enemy of the people.”
“When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people,” Trump said.
“The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible and the way you treat other people are horrible. You shouldn’t treat people that way,” Trump continued.
@realDonaldTrump looks on as a White House aide attempts to take away a microphone from CNN’s @Acosta during a news conference. pic.twitter.com/hKehies5Zh
— Evan Vucci (@evanvucci) November 7, 2018
The president then turned to another reporter in the room, who attempted to defend Acosta after Trump’s attack. The president replied that he wasn’t a big fan of that reporter, either. He then turned to another reporter, who asked about voter suppression. He dismissed the question, saying that the CNN polls were inaccurate, which constituted “voter suppression” and then moved on to another question.
Reporters continued to volley questions at Trump, who became visibly upset. Yamiche Alcindor with PBS asked Trump about his claim to be a “nationalist.” Trump responded saying that he has his highest poll numbers with African-Americans ever and called the question “racist” and “insulting.”
This isn’t the first time Acosta has faced off with Trump’s White House. In 2017, Acosta got into a heated exchange with Sarah Huckabee Sanders over Trump calling the media the enemy of the people.
