President Donald Trump and CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta got into a heated verbal back-and-forth at the White House on Wednesday that resulted in the president telling the reporter to ‘sit down’ and aides wrestling with the reporter to try and get the mic out of his hands.
‘CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them. You are a rude terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN,’ the president said to Acosta.
‘When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people,’ he told him.
President Donald Trump and CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta got into a heated verbal back-and-forth
Aides tried to take the mic from CNN’s Jim Acosta
The shocking exchange came as Acosta was asking the president about the migrant caravan.
Trump and Acosta have long have a contentious relationship as the CNN reporter often asks the president questions that seemed designed to illicit a reaction from him.
And the president snapped at other reporters in the room and told them to sit down, including Urban Radio’s April Ryan, not letting her ask a question.
‘Sit down please. Sit down. I didn’t call on you. I didn’t call on you,’ Trump said when Ryan tried to get in a question.
‘Excuse me I’m not responding to you. I’m talking to his gentleman. Would you please sit down,’ he said after calling on Daily Caller correspondent Saagar Enjeti with Ryan attempting to ask a question instead.
And when Ryan attempted to keep asking, the president said: ‘It’s such a hostile media. It’s so sad.’
‘You rudely interrupted him,’ Trump told Ryan.
Trump also accused Yamiche Alcindor, an African-American White House correspondent for PBS’ ‘NewsHour’ of asking a ‘racist’ question.
‘That’s a racist question,’ he told her when she asked him about calling himself a nationalist and if he was concerned people saw him as a white nationalist. ‘To say that what you said is so insulting to me.’
‘I’m simply asking the questions the public wants to know,’ Alcindor tweeted later.
But Wednesday’s exchange with Acosta was startling in its vitriol.
CNN defended Acosta in a statement.
‘This President’s ongoing attacks on the press have gone too far. They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American. While President Trump has made it clear he does not respect a free press, he has a sworn obligation to protect it. A free press is vital to democracy and we stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists everywhere,’ the network said.
Trump also lectured Urban Radio Network’s April Ryan for trying to interrupt another reporter
Acosta was called on early in Trump’s presser.
‘I wanted to challenge you,’ Acosta started but Trump interrupted him: ‘Here we go. Let’s go. Let’s go. Come on.’
Acosta pressed him on why he called the migrant caravan making its way from Central America to the U.S. border an invasion.
‘As you know Mr. President, it’s not an invasion. It’s a group of migrants moving toward the border,’ Acosta said.
‘Thank you for telling me that. I appreciate it,’ Trump said.
Acosta kept pressing but Trump cut him off.
‘I consider it an invasion. You and I have a difference of opinion,’ Trump said.
Acosta asked the president if he demonized immigrants for political points.
‘No not at all,’ Trump said.
Acosta kept asking and the president, who held the presser to tout Republican wins in Tuesday’s election, had enough and told him to sit down.
‘Honestly I think you should let me run the country and you run CNN,’ he snapped. ‘If you did it well your ratings would be much better.’
That didn’t stop Acosta from talking but Trump moved on. But as Acosta pressed on Trump told him to cut it off.
‘That’s enough,’ Trump said pointing at Acosta, who kept trying to talk. ‘That’s enough. That’s enough.’
Trump and Acosta have long have a contentious relationship
The president told Acosta enough and a White House intern tried to take the mic
Acosta wrestled with the intern who tried to take the mic
‘Pardon me ma’am,’ Acosta told her
‘Put the mic down,’ Trump tol Acosta
At that point, a White House intern tried to physically take the microphone from Acosta, who wrestled them for it. ‘Pardon me ma’am,’ he said to her.
‘That’s enough, Put down the mic,’ Trump told him.
He then called on NBC’s Peter Alexander but turned back to lecture Acosta.
‘You are a very rude person,’ Trump told him.
He then berated Acosta for the way he questioned White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in briefings.
‘The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible,’ he said. ‘And the way you treat other people is horrible, you shouldn’t treat other people that way.’
Acosta repeatedly presses Sanders in her rare briefings to clarify quotes and policy from the president.
In her last briefing Sanders got into a dispute with Acosta in the wake of a series of pipe bombs that were sent to Trump’s political rivals and to the Cable News Network, which had to evacuate its New York headquarters.
Sanders said a number of press outlets have engaged in ‘outrageous’ coverage of attempted violence on critics of the president that’s ‘irresponsible’ in the tone it has taken.
‘The president is not responsible for these acts,’ she said. ‘The major news networks’ first public statement was to blame the President and myself included. I mean, that is outrageous than anybody other than the individual who carried out the crime would hold that responsibility.’
Acosta has pushed Sanders to explain why the White House wouldn’t ‘reserve the term enemy of the people for people who are actually the enemy of the United States rather than journalists.’
She replied that ‘the president is not referencing all media, he’s taking about the growing amount of fake news that exists in the country.’
‘I’m not gonna walk through a list,’ she said as Acosta tried to force her to admit he was referring to CNN. ‘I don’t think it’s necessarily specific to a broad generalization of a full outlet at times. I think there’s individuals that the president would be referencing.’
Trump has also tangled with Acosta before – at a press conference in New York when he was there for meetings at the New York General Assembly and in London when he was on a visit there.
NBC’s Alexander did defend Acosta on Wednesday when Trump called on him in the wake of the jaw-dropping exchange.
‘In Jim’s defense – I’ve traveled with him and watched him – he’s a diligent reporter who busts his butt,’ Alexander said.
‘Well I’m not a fan of yours either,’ Trump replied. ‘You aren’t the best.’
‘I understand,’ Alexander responded.
‘Many thanks to my friend @PeterAlexander,’ Acosta tweeted later.