‘CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Between interviewing prospective attorneys general and pondering how to find a new way forward until the 2020 election with a now divided government—and an opposition party that made impeaching him its central platform—President Donald Trump probably had enough to worry about on Wednesday.
But that didn’t stop CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta from doggedly trying to steal Trump’s time by questioning the president over the semantics of a caravan approaching the border and whether he was concerned about further indictments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian collusion investigation.
Following a tense exchange between Trump and Acosta in which the reporter allegedly accosted a female White House staffer, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Twitter late Wednesday night that Acosta’s press pass had been suspended.
As a result of today’s incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November 8, 2018
Trump already had little patience as soon as Acosta prefaced his question about a statement he made during the close of the election campaign.
“Here we go,” Trump said.
After a gamely exchange that lasted about a minute and a half, in which the two talked over one another and Trump managed to slip in a jab at CNN’s ratings, the president finally told Acosta, “That’s enough.”
However, Acosta refused to yield the mic as a female White House staffer approached to take it.
As Trump stepped away from the podium, Acosta finally handed over the mic.
Trump then lit into him, saying, “I tell you, CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person.”
As Acosta attempted to interject, Trump added, “The way you treat [Press Secretary] Sarah Huckabee [Sanders] is horrible.”
In June, CBS published a story that was widely spread suggesting that Sanders, who has been publicly mocked at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner and forced from a restaurant by intolerant social justice warriors, was considering a departure.
However, Sanders put the rumors to rest, saying on Twitter that she loved her job.
Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my “plans to leave the WH” without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) June 14, 2018
Acosta has often assumed the role of chief antagonist during press briefings, so much so that during Trump campaign rallies, people in the audience would actively look for him in order to heckle with jeers of “CNN sucks.”
The network, in return, which Trump often refers to as “fake news,” has expressed alarm at what it calls Trump’s “hate movement” against the media and have claimed Trump is endangering the press with his rhetoric.
Several times in the past, White House officials have canceled interviews or threatened consequences over Acosta’s rude and unruly behavior.