President Donald Trump has frequently and consistently been at odds with the mainstream media throughout his first term in the White House, and perhaps no individual has received more direct criticism from the Commander in Chief than Jim Acosta.
Acosta is one of CNN’s most frequently featured White House correspondents and, as such, has tangled with President Trump time and time again. The reporter even had his White House credential suspended for a brief stint after getting into an altercation with a young West Wing staffer after she attempted to retrieve a microphone from Acosta.
Now, as the President continues to grapple with the global coronavirus pandemic, Acosta is again causing a fuss at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
From a press briefing on Monday:
Acosta, who has been absent for a while at the daily coronavirus briefing, asked Trump to address the “people who are upset with you” for downplaying the threat the virus posed to the United States.
“Here we go,” Trump said as Acosta read a series of statements that Trump made as the virus spread from China.
Trump defended his statements, noting that he was urging the country to be calm in the face of the threat and to fight it and win to prevent panic. He said that he could easily whip up panic like the media,and make Acosta and CNN “look like a minor league player.”
“Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question,” Trump said to Acosta.
President Trump’s daily press briefings during this national emergency have turned testy in recent days, as American cities and states continues to grapple with the virus crisis and Washington furiously flails in reaction.
