CNN’s Jim Acosta Blasts Trump’s ‘Fake News Conference’ in Poland (Video)

“This was not an attempt by the president to seek out a question from somebody who was going to challenge him on the issues,” Acosta says

CNN’s Jim Acosta didn’t care for President Donald Trump’s joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday, calling it a “fake news conference” because the president took his attacks on the cable news network abroad.

“For the president to go off on CNN as fake news, to me, just made this spectacle feel like a fake news conference,” Acosta said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Acosta continued: “This was not an attempt by the president to seek out a question from somebody who was going to challenge him on the issues.”

The first reporter to ask Trump a question brought up the video had he tweeted on Sunday that portrayed him beating up a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head. Trump was asked about CNN’s reaction to the video, which included what many conservative commentators considered blackmailing of the video’s pseudonymous creator after he apologized for the GIF.

“I think what CNN did was unfortunate for them, as you know, now they have some pretty serious problems. They have been fake news for a long time,” Trump said on Thursday. “They’ve been covering me in a very dishonest way.”

Acosta, who has a long history of dramatic encounters with Trump and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, said the conservative news media was being used by Trump to ask softball questions.

“I think that’s unfortunate,” Acosta said.

The CNN White House correspondent also called a variety of claims made by the president “fake news.”

Trump has frequently battled the media, but CNN and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” have been his primary targets recently. The president has attacked both outlets on Twitter, taking personal shots at MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in addition to the CNN wrestling video.

“NBC is equally as bad despite the fact that I made them a fortune with ‘The Apprentice,’ but they forgot that. But I will say that CNN has really taken it too seriously and I think they’ve hurt themselves very badly. Very, very badly,” Trump said.

Trump said he wants to see “honest” and “fair” press in the United States.

Check out the video above.

Comments