Donald Trump pointed his finger at CNN reporter Jim Acosta and said ‘out’ during a White House press conference.
Trump was with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan when he made the jab, which came after Acosta asked him a question relating to his ‘s***hole countries’ controversy.
A female press aide can be heard in video of the incident saying: ‘Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Jim. Thanks everyone. Thank you, Jim.’
CNN’s Jim Acosta (pictured at right speaking) tried to ask Donald Trump a question about immigration at a Tuesday press conference
Acosta said: ‘Mr President, did you say you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say you want more people from Norway?’
Trump responded: ‘I want them to come from everywhere, everywhere.’ Press aides then tried to wrap up the conference and Acosta tried to ask another question. Trump looked at Acosta, pointed at him and said: ‘Out’
The CNN journalist does not take this cue to stop asking questions and says: ‘Mr President, did you say you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say you want more people from Norway?’
Trump replies: ‘I want them to come from everywhere, everywhere.’
‘Thank you, Jim. It’s time to exit,’ a female aide is heard saying.
Acosta is heard attempting to ask another question.
Trump then looks at Acosta, points his finger at him and says: ‘Out.’
Acosta fired out a series of tweets following the encounter.
The incident occurred when Trump was meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan
‘As I attempted to ask questions in Roosevelt Room of Trump, WH press aides shouted in my face to drown out my questions. I have never encountered that before,’ Acosta wrote.
‘What occurred reminded me of something I would see in a different country. Certainly not at the WH. Certainly not in the U.S.’
Acosta added that he tried to ‘follow up on this in the Oval Office’ but was again rebuffed.
In a closed-door meeting about immigration last week, Trump allegedly said: ‘Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?’
The exact nature of his comment is not known both he and politicians present at the meeting have provided different reports of what Trump said.
But it is believed that his comment was in reference to African nations and that he also made disparaging remarks about people from Haiti and El Salvador.
The Trump administration has both denied his comments and has claimed that they were misrepresented. Politicians present at the meeting have said or have refused to deny that he made the comments.