President Trump slammed CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta as a “fake reporter” who doesn’t actually have sources on Wednesday while blasting CNN as “pure fiction.”
Trump was presumably made aware of a report by Acosta headlined, “Trump still not grasping the severity of the pandemic, source tells CNN,” which claimed an anonymous source said task force officials have had trouble convincing the president to take the coronavirus pandemic more seriously.
"@CNN has no sources on the Task Force,” Trump tweeted. “Their ‘sources’ are made up, pure fiction! Jim Acosta is a Fake reporter!”
CNN’s public relations department quickly responded directly to the president with a tweet, “False. @Acosta is a Real reporter with Real sources who talks to members of your Task Force much more often than you do.”
Acosta has made a name for himself in the Trump era for his hostile exchanges with the president and members of his administration. He regularly shouts questions when it isn’t his turn to speak and famously struggled with a White House aide for possession of a microphone during a 2018 press conference, resulting in a legal skirmish over whether or not he would be able to cover the White House.
President Trump slammed CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta as a “fake reporter” who doesn’t actually have sources. ((Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta))
TRUMP SLAMS CNN’S ACOSTA FOR PRESS CONFERENCE PERFORMANCE: ‘YOU ARE A RUDE, TERRIBLE PERSON’
As a result, the CNN reporter has emerged as a hero of the anti-Trump “resistance” but is regularly mocked by conservatives.
Earlier this year, Acosta was widely condemned for interrupting White House coronavirus task force leader Dr. Deborah Birx during a briefing and he is regularly accused of grandstanding when given the opportunity to ask questions.
Acosta has even been criticized by his White House press corps colleagues. In his recent book, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl knocked his CNN counterpart, accusing him of "playing into the explicit Trump strategy of portraying the press as the opposition party."
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"The surest way to undermine the credibility of the White House press corps is to behave like the political opposition," Karl wrote. "Don't give speeches from the White House briefing room."